NICARAGUA/FIGHTING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000201350014-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 22, 2008
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: August 29, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2008/09/22 : CIA-RDP88-0107OR000201350014-4
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29 August 1984
NICARAGUA/ SCHIEFFER: What to do about more U.S. aid to the contras
FIGHTING fighting Nicaragua's Sandinista regime still must be
settled by Congress. The CIA had been supplying millions
of dollars in covert assistance to the rebels. In a
report from this broadcast last on inside Nicaragua, we
saw what it was like behind rebel lines. Tonight Richard
Schlesinger reports on the targets of the contra attacks
and what effect those attacks are having.
SCHLESINGER: In the northern Nicaraguan farm country,
soldiers and rifles are as common as farmers and plows.
U.S.-backed rebels called contras have struck in this
region twice in the past three weeks. Their targets: two
cooperatives producing coffee and potatoes. Most peasants
in this area are members of the co-ops. Total cost of the
damage, according to.officials here, is more than half a
million dollars. ULISES\OLIVAR (co-op manager): (voice
of translator): It was that high because everything was
burned. We had a lot of raw materials in each co-op and a
lot of valuable chemicals.
SCHLESINGER: To defend the co-ops, the Sandinista
government has armed most of the people here, organizing
them into militias-. 'When the army is here,' say the
peasants, 'work goes on as usual. But when the army is
not, some of the farmers have to stop work and stand guard
duty, protecting the crops.' JUAN\PASTRANA (campesino)
(voice-of translator): I am a campesino and a worker. I
am not a soldier. I don't like to be a soldier. But
since the struggle in Nicaragua is so great we have to
defend our land.
SCHLESINGER: The Sandinista soldiers in this region say
the contras are poor fighters. They say they have very
little ammunition. Some don't even have shoes. But the
rebels clearly are having an impact. Their targets in
remote mountainous regions will be very difficult, if not
impossible, for the government to rebuild. Relief efforts
for the people displaced by the attacks are estimated by
the government to cost more than $250 million. Last
January, U.S.-backed contras attacked the small port
village of *Potosi by sea and air. They destroyed a ferry
boat and fired 50-millimeter shells into the customs house
here. The attack went on for three days,..and the village
had to be evacuated. The roughly 500 families that lived
here were moved to a cooperative about 30 miles away.
Carmen Ortega *Majia had lived in Potosi for 20 years.
CARMEN\ORTEGA\MAJIA (voice of translator): There were a
lot of bullets and one person died. Some were beaten,
.some were wounded, and so, we'.re afraid to go back.
Continued
Approved For Release 2008/09/22 : CIA-RDP88-0107OR000201350014-4
 Approved For Release 2008/09/22 : CIA-RDP88-0107OR000201350014-4
SCHLESINGER: The Sandinista regime expects the attacks
will cost the country $200 million in export earnings this
year. Nicaragua's gross national product is only $2.5
billion. At the same time, though, the contras are
indirectly helping the five-year-old government
politically. They have given the ruling Sandinista party
something on which to focus its anti-American sentiments.
And that could help the party in the country's November
elections, the first since the revolution. Richard
Schlesinger, CBS News, near Esteli, Nicaragua.
Approved For Release 2008/09/22 : CIA-RDP88-0107OR000201350014-4