'DISINFORMATION -MANUAL OF LIES'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201560046-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 46
• Publication Date: April 22, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201560046-1
pTir AP ED
ON
`Disinformation
- manual of lies'.
By Tom Diaz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A briefing book on Central America
given to U.S. congressmen by opponents
of aid to Nicaraguan resistance fighters
contains major errors of fact favorable to
the Sandinista regime, a former member
of the post-Somoza Nicaraguan coalition
government has charged.
The book, "Central America 1985" dis-
tributed on Capitol Hill by The Coalition
for a New Foreign and Military Policy
and the Commission on U.S.-Central
American Relations, was endorsed by
many liberal church and peace activist
groups.
But the former cabinet minister, who
asked not to be named, said the chapter
on Nicaragua is "pure propaganda." Dur-
ing an interview with The Washington
Times, he cited alleged errors in eco-
nomic and. social data, and misstate-
ments about key personalities in the
Nicaraguan struggle.
"There are a lot of things here that
even the Sandinistas will not claim," he
said.
The. minister served in the post-
Somoza coalition government, before
power was consolidated by the Marxist-
oriented Sandinista National Liber-
ation front. He left when he learned
that his name was on a "list" of per-
sons accused of being "counter-
revolutionaries."
He currently has access to data
filed by the Sandinista regime with
international organizations, and said
those data contradict the book's
description of Nicaragua under the
Sandinistas.
; For example, the book claims that
",,in recent years, the country's econ
omy has expanded remarkably,
showing a 5 percent rate of growth
in 1983."
In fact, said the minister, Nic-
aragua's gross national product has
declined under the Sandinista
regime and the country suffered a
negative rate of growth last year.
"If you look at the real salary of
I.. most of the population, [it] has.
declined by 90 percent since 1980;'
II he said.
John Blacken, a State Department
official familiar with Central
American affairs, confirmed some
of the former minister's criticisms.
Mr. Blacken called the 5 percent
growth rate cited in the book "non-
sense."
WASHINGTON TIMES
22 April 1985
"Their economy has had a neg-
ative growth this past year," Mr.
Blacken said. "The per capita
income. is lower now than it was,
under Somoza. "
The former Nicaraguan minister
also criticized the book's biogra-
phies of several leaders.
For example, he pointed out that
the book's biography section states
that Nicaraguan president Daniel
Ortega was "arrested and spent
seven years in jail" during the
"mid-1960s through the mid-1970s,"
without revealing that Mr. Ortega
was arrested because he gunned
down an unarmed bank guard dur-
ing a bank robbery.
A Nov 6, 1984, New York Times
article the book cites as its source
for Mr. Ortega's biography includes
the shooting incident.
The minister said the book down-
plays the importance of defense
minister Umberto Ortega, who he
said has more power than Daniel
Ortega and close ties with Cuba and
Moscow. The book also omits
Umberto Ortega's flight from Costa
Rica after being involved in the kill-
ing of a Costa Rican policeman.
The minister noted that the book
consistently uses economic and
social data from the time of the
coalition government, not the San-
dinistas.
"They are trying to present them
[the Sandinistas] in the best possible
light;" he said. "How can they pre-
tend to give the reader a balanced
view when they fail to report figures
that incorporate the dismal eco-
nomic performance of the Sandin-
istas?"
For example, the book includes a
1980 budget which shows only 11
percent being spent for defense. In
fact, he said, the Sandinista regime-
may be spending as much as 60
percent on arms.
Staff members at The Coalition
for a New Foreign and Military
Policy referred a reporter to an edi-
tor of the book for comment. The
editor did not return the reporter's
call.
The minister said that according
to Sandinista government figures he
has seen Nicaraguan exports have
fallen since 1977 from "in excess of
$1.1 billion" to "the Sandinista gov-
ernment's predicted" 1985 figure of
$380 million.
"The import figure. for 1985 is
about 1.5 times what it was in 1977;'
he said. "That tells you that produc-
tion has gone down substantially -
consumption has gone down,
imports have increased and exports
have declined."
ORE 0 U
He said the country's economic
decline should be blamed on Marxist
economic policies and an arms
buildup, not on fighting with resis-
tance forces.
"The Contra effort has affected
only the northern part of Nicaragua,
which is a coffee growing region,
and coffee exports have declined the
least;' he said.
Among other data in the book the
minister criticized were:
? Budget figures. The briefing
book includes 1980 budget data - a
period before the Sandinista consoli-
dation of power - showing modest
military expenditures. But the min-
ister said that military expenditures
have actually soared under the San-
dinista regime. At the same time, he
said, health, education and social
expenditures have declined in "real
terms" (after adjustment for the
country's spiraling inflation) to a
third of the same expenditures
under the Somoza regime.
? Infant mortality. The book
shows a 1980 infant mortality rate of
37 deaths per thousand births. The
minister says infant mortality has
increased substantially under the
Sandinista regime, because medica-
tions are not available, doctors have
fled the country and there has been
a general decline in the economy.
? Unemployment. The book
claims a national unemployment
rate of 8 percent. "That's completely
false," said the minister. He said the
Nicaraguan government itself esti-
mates unemployment" as about 30
percent, and that the rate is around
60 percent if so-called "underem-
ployed" persons - those who work
only a few hours a day or on make-
work assignments - are counted.
He said "liberals" should
"beware" because Sandinista lead-
ers openly called liberal members of
the U.S. Congress "tactical friends,
but strategic enemies" in his pres-
ence.
"By that, they mean that they [the
Sandinistas] can walk with them
[liberal congressmen] one step, two
steps, three steps;' he said. "At some
point, they will not walk with them
farther and they will oppose them.
They [the congressmen] are useful,
and as long as they are useful, the
Sandinistas will use them for their
tactical objectives:'
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201560046-1