MCWETHY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000301440006-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 8, 2010
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: November 7, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/01/08: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000301440006-2
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
7 November 1984
MCWETHY: In the last 24 hours, the U.S. government has
privately warned the Soviet Union in both Washington and
Moscow that it would be a 'very big mistake' for the
Soviets to deliver high performance jet aircraft to
Nicaragua, if such jet aircraft are indeed aboard a
Russian ship that docked today in a Nicaraguan port. The
Sandinista government in Nicaragua also got a warning.
PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: We have informed them that for
them to bring something that is absolutely unnecessary to
them, these high performance craft, in here, indicates
that they are contemplating being a threat to their
neighbors here in the Americas.
MCWETHY: And while the president was speaking, the CIA
was notifying the intelligence committees in Congress of a
'potentially serious development in Nicaragua,' a
development the CIA has been tracking for more than a
month. In early October, American spy satellites observed
a ,Soviet merchant vessel called the *Bacheroni loading
military supplies at the Russian Black Sea port of
Nikolajev. As one satellite flew over the port, a dozen
large crates were photographed at dockside, crates of the
size, shape and markings of those that normally carry
disassembled MiG jet fighters. When American spy
satellites next photographed the port, the crates were
gone and so was the ship. It is assumed that the crates
were loaded onto the ship and that the MiCs were inside
the crates, but intelligence sources stress they know
neither fact for sure. The ship sailed through the
Mediterranean into the Atlantic. Instead of going through
the Panama Canal, where its cargo would be inspected, it
took the long route around South America and is now at
Nicaragua's main port called Corinto. At a press
conference today, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister D'Escoto
denied that his country is taking delivery of MiG
fighters. He claimed that the U.S. is trying to start a
war, that an American warship today violated Nicaragua's
territorial waters and that the Corinto port was overflown
by U.S. spy planes at least twice this morning.
FOREIGN MINISTER D'ESCOTO: No boat has arrived on
Co need
Approved For Release 2010/01/08: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000301440006-2
 Approved For Release 2010/01/08: CIA-RDP88-01070R000301440006-2
Nicaragua either now nor at any time in the past bringing
MiG airplanes..
MCWETHY: U.S. officials deny that an American ship-was
anywhere near the port, but confirmed that U.S. spy planes
have been very busy and are regularly overflying
Nicaraguan territory. In fact, last week an SR-71 spy
plane, one of the fastest aircraft on earth, was ordered
to come in low, under the cloud cover, so it could get a
good picture of a Bulgarian freighter that was then
unloading weapons. At supersonic speed, the. SR-71 flew
over the port of El Bluff and then, at low altitude,
leaving a window-shattering sonic boom in its wake, the
plane rocketed across the entire country. From that
mission, the U.S. learned that Nicaragua had just taken
delivery of at least top-of-the-line Soviet *Hind
helicopters. These are among the world's fastest
helicopters, routinely flying more than 200 mph. They are
heavily armed, capable of shooting down other helicopters
or planes and of destroying targets on the ground. But
the Reagan administration, while noting the arrival of new
helicopters, is focusing on what it fears will be the next
step up the line. Officials say Nicaragua should make no
mistake about it, Ronald Reagan will not allow
high-performance jet fighters to'be based in Nicaragua.
And, if necessary, he will use U.S. military force to make
sure it does not happen. John McWethy, ABC News, the
State Department.
Approved For Release 2010/01/08: CIA-RDP88-01070R000301440006-2