LETTER TO RICHARD M. PENA FROM (SANITIZED).

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87M01152R000500620026-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 1, 2010
• Sequence Number: 26
• Publication Date: January 11, 1985
• Content Type: LETTER

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?.,,..a Veto on .11 January 1985
T I h ? 1- 121
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Legislative Liaison
Washington D. C. 20505
TO: Mr. Richard M. Pena
House F r i n Aff ir$ Committee
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
STAT
Dear Dick:
Enclosed, per your request, please find
release of study entitled, "FSLN As An
Especially Favored Revolutionary Democratic
Party--How the Soviets View the FSLN."
Liaison Division
Office of Legislative Liaison
Enclosure
OBSOLETE
M 1533 PREVIOUS
EDITIONS.
STAT
Distribution:
Original - Addressee
1 - OLL Record
1 - OLL Chrono
Chrono
LD/OL( pap (11 January 85)
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z. The FSLN as an Es pecially Favored "Revolutionar
Democrat c Party
The Soviets have openly classified Nicaragua as a "country of
socialist orientation" from at least early 1982 onward.1 "Countries
of Socialist orientation" are said to differ from communist countries
in that they have not left "the world capitalist system," even though
the national economy in the majority of them is dominated by the
state.2 Also, "countries of socialist orientation" are ruled by
"revolutionary democratic" pariies, said by the Soviets to differ from
communist parties in that they reflect multi-class interests and fail
to have a uniformly cohesive doctrine and discipline.3
In discussions of "revolutionary democratic" parties, Soviet
writers single out for special attention an elite sub-category thereof
which they term "vanguard". These "vanguard revolutionary democratic"
parties have stricter class and ideological requirements for membership
than do the others and have openly declared their commitment to
"scientific socialism" (as the Soviets term Moscow's brand of
communism).4 The Soviets have come close to describing the FSLN as
"vanguard" party: both in April 1982, Yu. V. Irkhin in Problems of
History stated that the FSLN was developing into the "vanguard
category5 and Vadim V. Zagladin's World Communist Movement
acknowledged that that party had developed a program based on the
"creative application of Marxism-Leninism to the specific conditions of
Nicaragua". One of the captured Grenadan documents spells it out
even more when it stated that the FSLN, 'like the New Jewel Movement,
was "committed to the application of Marxist-Leninist principles in the
construction of scientific socialism".7
These same nine parties, one incidentally, led off the list arrivedtfor then
published by the status con
Andropov funeral in February 1984?.9
II. The FSLN as a Communist Party Substitute
Soon after its coming to power in July 1979, the FSLN took over the
external representation function formerly exercised by the pro-Soviet
communist party of the country, the Nicaraguan Socialist Party (PSN).
The last international activity noted by the PSN was its participation
in signing a September 1979 document of the "communist parties of
Mexico, Central America, and Panama" entitled "The Defense.of the New
Nicaragua".l? It was the FSLN rather than the PSN which represented
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Nicaragua at the February 1981 26th CPSU Congress (at which it was one
of the ten "revolutionary democratic" parties allowed to address the
main session).11 This situation is somewhat unique in that. in other
"revolutionary democracies" having pre-existing communist parties
(e.g.. Algeria and Syria), the latter continue to operate
internationally along with their respective countries' ruling parties.
Most revealing of all, however, was the fact that the FSLN was the only
officially non-communist party to attend the July 1984 South American
communist parties meeting in Buenos Aires.l2
An apparent domestic parallel to all this was found on the occasion
of the 12th (and last) PSN Congress of July 1981. At that meeting one
Sandinista leader with seemingly no PSN connection gave the keynote
speech and another ggave what appeared to have been the most important
discourse thereat. 13 Again, this was apparently a unique situation.
Covert documents of Grenada's New Jewel Movement, the other openly
characterized "revolutionary democratic" party in Latin America while
in power,14 revealed that that the working level at least the Soviets
privately regarded that party as an outright communist one.15
Incidentally, it is of interest that these documents reveal that the
Cubans, in advising the Grenadan leaders in how to handle the
"difficult" religious situation in their country, suggested that they
get in touch with those Nicaraguan clerical and lay leaders who were
pushing "liberation theology".16
III- The FSLN and the Fronts
The Soviet-line international communist fronts exist to promote
Soviet foreign policy objectives. Though overt communists play
important roles in such organization, their credibility is enhanced
and, in fact, their purpose fulfilled by having very visible
non-communists ostensibly taking the lead therein. 7 The
Sandinistas, the international support of whose government is one of
the current front themes,18 should and do play a major role here, as
can be seen by-the following:
Organization D
A. Worldwide Fronts
World Peace Council (WPC)
osiLions of Sandinistas Involved
Vice President Olga AVILES Lopez
Presidium member Roberto ARGUELLO
Hurtado (Supreme Court president)
Presidium member Ernesto CARDENAL
Martinez (culture minister)
Presidium member Doris TIJERINO Haslam
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World Federation of Trade
Unions (WFTU)
International Organization
Journalists (IOJ)
International Association
of Democratic Lawyers (IADL)
B. Regional Fronts
Federation of Latin America
Journalists (FELAP)
Continental Christian Peace
Conference in Latin America
and the Caribbean (CPC-LAC)
Council members Lucio JIMINEZ Guzman
(secretary general) and Francisco
Jose GONZALES (international
secretary) of the Sandinista
Workers Center
Vice President Juan MOLINA Palacios
Vice President Gloria GABUARDI
Secretary General Daniel Aguirre
Solis
Executive Committeeman Ernesto
CARDENAL Martinez (see above)
Latin American Continental Secretary Danilo PEREZ
Students Organization (OCLEA)
Latin American Association
for Human Rights (ALDHU)
Directive Councilman Ernesto
CARDENAL Martinez (see above)
Anti-Imperialist Tribunal
of Our America (TANA)
Continental Front of
Women (FCM)
Co-Executive Secretary-Luis
CALDERA
Coordinator Doris TIJERINO
Haslam (see above)
Conclusions
From the Soviet standpoint, Nicaragua is merely a "country of
ialist orientation," for as of 1983 only 20 per cent of its aid
~ounted for by the communist Bloc and the local economy was only
cent nationalized. This would appear to be exactly what the
lets want. To go further along the communist way economically
wa s
40
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(preponderant reliance on the Bloc for trade and aid and total or
near-total nationalization) would be something hardly desirable from
the Soviet standpoint. Could the Russians afford another Cuba? Would
they want to run the risk of provoking an unfavorable Western political
reaction thereby?
Politically, the trick for the Soviets appears to be to ensure
total Nicaraguan compliance with their foreign policy objectives, the
internal conversion of the FSLN leadership to communism, and the
gradual elimination of non-Sandinista power centers while at the same
time having the Nicaraguans maintain the facade of a pluralistic and
somewhat free society. The secret Grenada documents showed that the
leaders of the New Jewel Movement at least were fully aware of the
necessity for such a facade and for that specific reason did such
things as maintaining membership in the Socialist International and
placing moderates in ostensibly key positions (which, however, actually
carried no political weight).21 Such action makes sense so that the
United States Government will not be provoked into "precipitous" action
and so that the political support of the world's moderate Leftists
(with attendant economic benefits as well) will be maintained. An
aspect of this latter is the greater influence of Sandinistas in the
international communist fronts because of their being "non-communists".
As far as the ideological development of the party goes, it is
assumed that future FSLN leaders are being trained in Moscow's
Institute of Social Sciences (school for non-Bloc communists) and in
its Cuban equivalent, the Nico Lopez School. Again, the Grenadan
documents revealed that 14 New Jewel Movement trainees attended the
Soviet school for a six-month course during November 1982-May 1983 and
that plans were afoot for sending a contingent to the Cuban school as
well.Z2
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1 V. V. Zagladin (ed.), The World Communist Movement (Moscow: 1982)
trans. JPRS-UPS-84-034-L, p. 359 OUO
2 A. Kiva, "Sotsialisticheskaya orientatsiya, Nekotorie problemy
teorii i praktiki," Mirovaya ekonomika; mezhdunarodnyye otrosheniya
(Moscow), No. 10, October 1976, p. 23
3 V. V. Zagladin (ed.), The International Communist Movement: Sketch
of Strategy and Tactics Moscow: 1972), trans
JPRS-57044
"
.
, p. 255;
A. Kiva,
Countries of Socialist orientation: Some Aspects of
Their Political Development," International Affairs (Moscow),
October 1973, p. 32; V. G. Solododnikov et. al. (eds.), Political
Parties of Africa (Moscow: 1970), trans. JPRS-52950, G. Shakhnazarov, "On the Problem of Correlation of Forces in9the0;
World," Kommunist (Moscow), No. 3, February 1974, trans.
JPRS-61776, p. 100.
Veniamin Chirkin (article unstated), Asia and Africa Today (Moscow,
English edition), No. 4, July-August 1981, carried -in JJPRS-79176;
V1. Li, "Social Revolution in Afro-Asian countries and Scientific
Socialism," Africa and Asia Today (Moscow, Russian Edition), No. 3.
March 1981, trans. JPRS-78507, p. 12.
5 Yu. V. Irkhin, "Revolutionary Vanguard Parties of Working People in
Liberated Countries," Problems of Histor (Moscow), No. 4, April
1982, trans. JPRS-L/10615, p. 6; OUO
6 V. V. Zagladin (ed.), The World Communist Movement, o cit., 318 (OUO) p.
7 Michael Ledeen and Herbert Romerstein (eds.), The Grenada
Documents: an Overview and Selection (Washington: 1984
P-
i
8
9 Pravda (Moscow), 14 February 1984
10 Information Bulletin (Prague), 23/1979, pp. 62-64
38-4
11 Wallace Spaulding, "Checklist of the 'National Liberation
Movement,'" Problems of Communism _
p. 78. These ten were the ruling partiesgofnAfghanista n,C1Alger8
ia,
Angola, the Congo, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Syria, and
South Yemen--with the exception of the Congo, the nine that
received the secret CPSU letter of July 1983 (see above).
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/ew Age (New Delhi), 12 August 1984. The FSLN and the Cuba
and thus technically "observers," but this perhaps makes the
Nicaraguan participation all the more significant.
13 Barricada (Managua), 4 and 5 July 1981
14 V. V. Zagladin (ed.), The World Communist Movement, o. cit., p. 359
(ouo)
15 Ledeen and Romerstein, op. cit., pp. 26-2 and 29-2
16 Ibid., p. 2-8
17 See Richard F. Staar (ed.), 1983 Yearbook on International
Communist Affairs (Stanford: 1983 , pp. 394-397, for a discussion
of front policy
18 Ibid., p. 396
19 See Richard F. Staar (ed.), 1984 Yearbook on International
Communist Affairs (Stanford: 199-4), pp. 428-434, for a listing of
current front leaders. Also, see CIA/DDO, Latin American Regional
Fronts and Key Leftist Latin American National Labor Unions, July
1983, CIR-316 03740-83 p. 13.
20 See CIA/DDO, Latin American Regional Fronts, July 1984,
(CIR-316/02959-84 pp. 2-12 and El Pueblo Guaycquil), 15-21 June
1984
21 Ledeen and Romerstein, op. cit., pp. 1-9 through 1-19, 35-2
22 Ibid., pp. 17-2, 28-1 through 28-5
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