NICARAGUA ARMS CALLED PERIL TO AREA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402700063-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 26, 2012
• Sequence Number: 63
• Publication Date: December 3, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402700063-3
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE
NEW YORK TIMES
3 DECEMBER 1981
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By RICHARD HALLORAN
Sp d ee"WWWYwaT
WASHINGTON, Dec. 2-The Reagan
Administration is portraying Nicaragua
as a serious threat to Central America
because of a military buildup directed
A senior official, quoting intelligence
reports, told reporters today that Nice.
ragua was "on. the verge of becoming a
terms." The official also said that Nica.
ragua was fostering left-wing insu gen.
Lion officials and military analysts in-
terviewed on the subject, the official
spoke on condition that he not be identi-
fled.
Other Administration officials said
that President Reagan was considering
the question of whether to order United
States military forces to combat the
threat or to rely on a variety of other
means ranging from diplomacy to cov-
ert action.
Admbnistratloo lsDivfded
The Administration,' officials ac.
knowledged, is divided along lines that
reflect.an unusual reversal of roles. Sea
retary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr.,
supported by the White House counsel-
lor, Edwin Meese 3d, has become the
leading advocate of using force, the offs.
cials said. ? ~, .; -.
But Secretary of Defense Caspar W.
Weinberger, with strong support from
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has argued
against using military force because ft
might protracted involvement
like that in Vietnam. The military lead.
ers fear that the American public would
not support military action and might
turn against the Administration
's puss
Much of the most modern Soviet other officials said that 4,0W to 6,000
equipment, they said, has remained fnt; Cuba= were in Nicaragua, 500 to 600
Cuba. But these new supplies, they said, having arrived in the last few weeks.
have permitted prime Minister Fidel They were said to be training the Nice.
Casino's Government to ship large raguan Army while East Germans were
quantities of older weapons and equip. supervising of internal se-
meat to Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan Army, the officials
the The prospe ect Reagan of Administration is most said, has grown from about 7,000 men
concerned the senior official said, by when the new government came to
MIG-17 an d? MIG-2 1 Soviet vliet et acquiring p two and a half years ago to about
from Cuba., He- said that jet Cuba fighters had re-i 80,000 today, a mixture of regular forces
Gently received 17 later models of the
MIG-24:thur making the older planes
available to Nicaragua.
Other. officials said they ? expected
Nicaraguan pilots now in training In
Bulgaria or other Eastern European na-
tions to return to Cuba, pick up the
fighter planes and fly them to Nicara-
gua. The senior official said that was ex-
pected next spring.
The officials said they had aerial pia
tutes of at least three airfield runways
being lengthened to accommodate high.
performance jet aircraft. In addition,
they said, the Nicaraguans have re-
ceived antiaircraft guns and small sur-
face-to.air missiles from the Soviet
Union to protectthsairfields.
In addition, military analysts said.
Nicaragua has a military assistance
agreement with Vietnam under which
Hanoi has evidently promised to send to
Nicaragua 1,000 United States helicop
tern, transports and light fighter planes
seised after the Vietnam War.
Doubts on Ability Expressed
doubts some analysts Nexpressed icaragua gua would
be able to strike deep into neighboring
.countries, largely because it does not
have the trained men to fly or to main-
tain the aircraft, weapons and sophisti-
cated radar and communications equip-
seemed to be a regular force of 50,
and a militia of 200,000.
The analysts said that seven military
headquarters had been spotted around
the country. Some were patterned
closely after Soviet military posts. with
barracks, workshops, supply depots and
athletic fields laid out in the Soviet fash-
ion.
The Nicaraguan Armv has about 2f
older Soviet tanks, the officials ? said, "
shipped from Cuba and replaced there
by newer Soviet models.. They said the
tanks appeared to be intended to main-
tain control over a restless population
since they would not be effective in the
Central America- jungle.
Nicaragua has also received antitank
weapons, howitzers, medium and heavy
mortars, automatic rifles' and trucks.
The analysts said they expected Nicara-
gua to receive armored reconnaissance
vehicles, armored personnel' carriers,
-more artillery and more trucks in the hi-'1
lure. .' 'v < ay a 'if -~. a
Most of the shipments from Cuba,
they said, have been unloaded at the
to modernize the armed tortes. ment.
According to an assessment widely Some' officials were, also- dubious
shared by military and intelligence arks- about the ability of the Vietnamese to
lysts, Nicaragua has expanded its mill- furnish the 1,000 aircraft they pledged to
tary manpower and received a steady Nicaragua and about the condition of
flow of military equipmnt.. bum the those planes. They questioned whether A ter tactic for obi
Soviet Union and its Eastern E>n _ they would be able to fly and whether PamB arms into El
allies through Cuba. Nicaragua could absorb all or even a Salvador, they said, was for helicopters
large part of them. Y and to time during in El Salvador
to take off Long-Ter='Ibreat Is Sena On the other band, other Central
The objective. the analysts said, is to American nations are so lightly armed. for dusk. They would then be unloaded
make Nicaragua, led by the left-wing that a few MIG's might be a formidable and take off under cover of darkness to
Sandinist Government. the dominant force. The senior official meeting with) returntoNicaragua.
power in Central America. Some ena- reporters said that those MIG's would
lysts said that the military. buildup tip the balance against Honduras, for in.
might constitute a long-term threat to stance. ' .
Mexican oilfields to the north and to the In addition to weapons, the Soviet
Panama Canal to the south. Union and its allies have provided large
The buildup. the analysts said, has numbers of military advisers to Nicara-
been made possible by the greatest ship. gun. The senior official said that the
ment of weapons and equipment from capital, Managua, "has become an in-
the Soviet Union to Cuba since the mis. ternatiooal carter with East Germans
rile crisis of 1962. They said that about there, Bulgarians there, North Koreans
56,000 tons of military supplies had ar- thee. Soviets there, Cubans there, and
rived in Cuba since the first of the year, even the P.L.O.; ' or Palestine Libera-
including shipments from Eastern. tionOrganisation..
rope. r w.. .
ports of Puerto Cabanas, on the north
east coast of Nicaragua, and Bluefields,
on the southeast coast. Small shipments
have alsogone in byair, they said.
. Some of the small arms coming from
Cuba have been passed on to guerrilla
forces in El Salvador, the officials said.
They have identified at, least five over-
land routes to El Salvador, they said,
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402700063-3