TALKING POINTS - CONGRESS RE: EL SALVADOR AND NICARAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 1, 2007
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: May 23, 1984
• Content Type: REPORT

CGrDVT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
DCI
23 1-gay 1984
Revision 3
TALKING POINTS - CONGRESS
Let me tell you quickly what the state of play in El Salvador and
Nicaragua.
The Salvadoran guerrillas are planning a major expansion of forces and
a fall offensive against the government of Jose Napoleon Durate, with heavy
Cuban and Nicaraguan support. The presence or absence of the Nicaraguan
Democratic Resistance may be a key element in whether the Nicaraguan supported
offensive in El Salvador is a success or a failure. The Nicaraguan Resistance is
making daily progress deep inside the country because it is receiving the massive
support of the rural population. The Resistance forces are tying down major
elements of the Sandinista military establishment, and are causing a major
diversion of Sandinista military supplies which might otherwise be applied to
the support of subversion in El Salvador or elsewhere in Central America.
You need not be surprised if President Duarte is confronted this fall with
some thousands of trained Nicaraguan soldiers no longer needed to defend against
the resistance turning up as Salvadoran gueerillas.
In El Salvador, a cutoff would boost the morale of the Salvadoran guerrillas
while contributing enormously to the buildup for a fall offensive which Cuba and
the Soviet Union already have under way. It would give the Sandinistas a green
light to clamp down its totalitarian control over the people of Nicaragua, to
expand throughout the country the Cuban method of people control by vigilantes,
block by block, which has stilled the voice of the Cuban people and has already
been imposed in Managua and other cities of Nicaragua. It would snuff out the
hope for a democratic alternative to which Nicaraguans still aspire and which
the resistance keeps alive for them. It would increase the fears in the area
SECRET
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 crrDrT
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about Nicaragua's aggressive policies and its purpose in acquiring tanks,
training their pilots to fly Soviet MIGs and arming 100,000 men, more than
all the other countries of Central America put together. It would reinforce
the view all over Latin America that the US is an unreliable partner.
This time, a Bay of Pigs in Managua could not be attributed to military
failure. The people we would be letting down have achieved an amazing success
in establishing in two years an opposition in a totalitarian state. This time
we would be telling the world we no longer find it politically acceptable or
lack the political will, or the integrity, to stand by our own commitments.
The impact of another American pullout will be devasting around the world. As
we ask the Gulf states to join us in planning the defense of the sources of
Western oil, we will be walking out on people we encouraged to work with us
two years ago.
Now, for the human dimensions. When the opposition to the Sandinistas
sprang up, only a few answered the call. But as the repression became greater
and word spread of American support, thousands of people rallied to the
opposition: workers, peasants, students, shopkeepers, farmers, ranchers, and
even Sandinista soldiers.
Why did they come and why are they fighting? The answer is in the
sorrowful litany of atrocities, religious persecution, displacement from tribal
homelands, denial of livelihood -- all in the name of reformation of society
and conformity with Marxist principles -- that has driven these people to risk
their most precious possession, life itself.
Each and every one of these people will tell you, in his or her own way,
that they will not give up this fight for a free and just homeland. They will
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
tell you they are not interested in politics, but they want the right to
choose their leaders by vote. They will tell you they believe in God and
do not want men with guns and power to intimidate their clergy, to run their
schools, to insult the Holy Father, and to want to live in peace. But most of
all, they will proudly tell you they will win this struggle for freedom and
justice because God and America are on their side.
Imagine, if you will, the desperation and chaos which will result from
our precipitous abandonment of these forces. Envision the despair and certain
panic that will overtake thousands of men and women who are now fighting their
oppressors deep within Nicaragua. Envision the hopelessness when they realize
that their ammunition, food and other supplies are running low and are told
that there is no resupply.
Although some will undoubtedly find the courage to survive and fight on,
human nature dictates that most will beat a retreat for the sanctuaries of
Honduras and Costa Rica. Envision the annihilation of these brave patriots,
running for their lives, leaving the injured and wounded to the mercy of
their adversaries. Envision the plight of Honduras and Costa Rica, now flooded
with refugees, and having to cope with hundreds, if not thousands more, now
armed and angry at their perceived betrayal. Envision the worse consequence,
the destruction of human spirit, not only of these fighters for freedom but
also those who have carried on the unarmed resistance from within Nicaragua --
the small band of churchmen, journalists, businessmen, farmers, labor leaders,
intellectuals, politicians, mothers, fathers and young people -- who have
fought for their rights against harsh, often brutal, repression.
This nation, its leaders and elected representatives, indeed you and I,
have all fostered, encouraged and stimulated these people, who had already
3
srrRFT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
 cGrDrr
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
suffered so much in their revolution, to fight again against another and
much more powerful and reprehensible oppressor. We encouraged them to believe
what we believe. And, we did so in good faith and with clear conscience
because it is a morally just and righteous cause. These people have come now
to believe in themselves and their dream, in us and our support for their
struggle, and risk their lives in this belief. That faith and hope cannot
and must not be shattered.
You have a fateful vote to cast -- a vote perhaps more than any other that
will stick to our reputations as individuals and as a nation and an ally. In
whatever we do, we will be speaking to people who have put their lives on the
line, to other nations of Central America struggling for their freedom, to
other free nations around the world, to the Soviet Union, Libya, Cuba, Iran
and other aggressor nations, to the American people and their commitment to
liberty. We will be speaking to history and to our future.
Within a year the national security and geopolitical position of the
United States can be permanently impaired by a hostile base on the American mainland
a little more than an hour's flight away. How will the historical record look?
What were we doing while the Soviet Union was committing over $4 billion a
year in military and economic assistance to and through Cuba and positioning
some 6,000 Soviet troops and advisors in Cuba, while some 3,500 Cuban military
advisors and hundreds of Soviet bloc advisors worked to clamp totalitarianism
on Nicaragua and its neighbor El Salvador. We, the United States, tried to
counter this threat to our security with less than half a billion dollars in
economic and military assistance and a mere handful of military advisors.
About 10 percent of what the aggressors were doing! History will ask how
4
SECRET
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 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
could we appropriate $300 million for defense and withhold one ten-thousandth
of that amount to continue support to people who have put their lives on the
line to resist aggression and oppression sponsored by the Soviet Union and
their proxies in our own backyard.
Let me now focus for a final moment on the practicalities of the
situation we find ourselves in. It would be hard for anyone to contend that
what we are talking about is not an asset in the fight against Communist
domination of Central America. No one can be happy about letting it disappear
for nothing. As long as those resistants are there on the ground they exert
pressure on the Sandinistas, they divert them from mischief elsewhere, they
represent hope and provide encouragement to their fellow countrymen, they can
nourish pluralism and democracy in Nicaragua, they constitute a reason for
the Sandinistas to improve their behavior. Many of you believe they have gone
too far, that they should not do things that threaten third country interests.
It should not be beyond our ingenuity to keep them in their country to let
them exert their political will along with others in that country to evolve
the kind of government that is right for all Nicaraguans.
Can we risk the alternative which President Reagan described in his speech
two weeks ago when he said: continued Communist success in Central America
"poses the threat that 100 million people from Panama to the open border on
our south could come under the control of pro-Soviet regimes."
5
SECRET
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 c1rDGT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
DCI
23 1-gay 1984
Revision 3
Let me tell you quickly what the state of play in El Salvador and
Nicaragua.
The Salvadoran guerrillas are planning a major expansion of forces and
a fall offensive against the government of Jose Napoleon Durate, with heavy
Cuban and Nicaraguan support. The presence or absence of the Nicaraguan
Democratic Resistance may be a key element in whether the Nicaraguan supported
offensive in El Salvador is a success or a failure. The Nicaraguan Resistance is
making daily progress deep inside the country because it is receiving the massive
support of the rural population. The Resistance forces are tying down major
elements of the Sandinista military establishment, and are causing a major
diversion of Sandinista military supplies which might otherwise be applied to
the support of subversion in El Salvador or elsewhere in Central America.
You need not be surprised if President Duarte is confronted this fall with
some thousands of trained Nicaraguan soldiers no longer needed to defend against
the resistance turning up as Salvadoran gueerillas.
In El Salvador, a cutoff would boost the morale of the Salvadoran guerrillas
while contributing enormously to the buildup for a fall offensive which Cuba and
the Soviet Union already have under way. It would give the Sandinistas a green
light to clamp down its totalitarian control over the people of Nicaragua, to
expand throughout the country the Cuban method of people control by vigilantes,
block by block, which has stilled the voice of the Cuban people and has already
been imposed in Managua and other cities of Nicaragua. It would snuff out the
hope for a democratic alternative to which Nicaraguans still aspire and which
the resistance keeps alive for them. It would increase the fears in the area
SECRET
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
 Crc rT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
about Nicaragua's aggressive policies and its purpose in acquiring tanks,
training their pilots to fly Soviet MIGs and arming 100,000 men, more than
all the other countries of Central America put together. It would reinforce
the view all over Latin America that the US is an unreliable partner.
This time, a Bay of Pigs in Managua could not be attributed to military
failure. The people we would be letting down have achieved an amazing success
in establishing in two years an opposition in a totalitarian state. This time
we would be telling the world we no longer find it politically acceptable or
lack the political will, or the integrity, to stand by our own commitments.
The impact of another American pullout will be devasting around the world. As
we ask the Gulf states to join us in planning the defense of the sources of
Western oil, we will be walking out on people we encouraged to work with us
two years ago.
Now, for the human dimensions. When the opposition to the Sandinistas
sprang up, only a few answered the call. But as the repression became greater
and word spread of American support, thousands of people rallied to the
opposition: workers, peasants, students, shopkeepers, farmers, ranchers, and
even Sandinista soldiers.
Why did they come and why are they fighting? The answer is in the
sorrowful litany of atrocities, religious persecution, displacement from tribal
homelands, denial of livelihood -- all in the name of reformation of society
and conformity with Marxist principles -- that has driven these people to risk
their most precious possession, life itself.
Each and every one of these people will tell you, in his or her own way,
that they will not give up this fight for a free and just homeland. They will
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
 REI
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
tell you they are not interested in politics, but they want the right to
choose their leaders by vote. They will tell you they believe in God and
do not want men with guns and power to intimidate their clergy, to run their
schools, to insult the Holy Father, and to want to live in peace. But most of
all, they will proudly tell you they will win this struggle for freedom and
justice because God and America are on their side.
Imagine, if you will, the desperation and chaos which will result from
our precipitous abandonment of these forces. Envision the despair and certain
panic that will overtake thousands of men and women who are now fighting their
oppressors deep within Nicaragua. Envision the hopelessness when they realize
that their ammunition, food and other supplies are running low and are told
that there is no resupply.
Although some will undoubtedly find the courage to survive and fight on,
human nature dictates that most will beat a retreat for the sanctuaries of
Honduras and Costa Rica. Envision the annihilation of these brave patriots,
running for their lives, leaving the injured and wounded to the mercy of
their adversaries. Envision the plight of Honduras and Costa Rica, now flooded
with refugees, and having to cope with hundreds, if not thousands more, now
armed and angry at their perceived betrayal. Envision the worse consequence,
the destruction of human spirit, not only of these fighters for freedom but
also those who have carried on the unarmed resistance from within Nicaragua --
the small band of churchmen, journalists, businessmen, farmers, labor leaders,
intellectuals, politicians, mothers, fathers and young people -- who have
fought for their rights against harsh, often brutal, repression.
This nation, its leaders and elected representatives, indeed you and I,
have all fostered, encouraged and stimulated these people, who had already
3
SECRET
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
 CFrRFT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
suffered so much in their revolution, to fight again against another and
much more powerful and reprehensible oppressor. We encouraged them to believe
what we believe. And, we did so in good faith and with clear conscience
because it is a morally just and righteous cause. These people have come now
to believe in themselves and their dream, in us and our support for their
struggle, and risk their lives in this belief. That faith and hope cannot
and must not be shattered.
You have a fateful vote to cast -- a vote perhaps more than any other that
will stick to our reputations as individuals and as a nation and an ally. In
whatever we do, we will be speaking to people who have put their lives on the
line, to other nations of Central America struggling for their freedom, to
other free nations around the world, to the Soviet Union, Libya, Cuba, Iran
and other aggressor nations, to the American people and their commitment to
liberty. We will be speaking to history and to our future.
Within a year the national security and geopolitical position of the
United States can be permanently impaired by a hostile base on the American mainland
a little more than an hour's flight away. How will the historical record look?
What were we doing while the Soviet Union was committing over $4 billion a
year in military and economic assistance to and through Cuba and positioning
some 6,000 Soviet troops and advisors in Cuba, while some 3,500 Cuban military
advisors and hundreds of Soviet bloc advisors worked to clamp totalitarianism
on Nicaragua and its neighbor El Salvador. We, the United States, tried to
counter this threat to our security with less than half a billion dollars in
economic and military assistance and a mere handful of military advisors.
About 10 percent of what the aggressors were doing! History will ask how
4
SECRET
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
10,
could we appropriate $300 million for defense and withhold one ten-thousandth
of that amount to continue support to people who have put their lives on the
line to resist aggression and oppression sponsored by the Soviet Union and
their proxies in our own backyard.
Let me now focus for a final moment on the practicalities of the
situation we find ourselves in. It would be hard for anyone to contend that
what we are talking about is not an asset in the fight against Communist
domination of Central America. No one can be happy about letting it disappear
for nothing. As long as those resistants are there on the ground they exert
pressure on the Sandinistas, they divert them from mischief elsewhere, they
represent hope and provide encouragement to their fellow countrymen, they can
nourish pluralism and democracy in Nicaragua, they constitute a reason for
the Sandinistas to improve their behavior. Many of you believe they have gone
too far, that they should not do things that threaten third country interests.
It should not be beyond our ingenuity to keep them in their country to let
them exert their political will along with others in that country to evolve
the kind of government that is right for all Nicaraguans.
Can we risk the alternative which President Reagan described in his speech
two weeks ago when he said: continued Communist success in Central America
"poses the threat that 100 million people from Panama to the open border on
our south could come under the control of pro-Soviet regimes."
5
SECRET
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
ILLEGIB
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 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/03/26: CIA-RDP88B00443R000100540013-4
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