NICARAGUA: US SAYS ARMS BALANCE IN AREA 'UPSET'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302860010-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 26, 2010
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: March 10, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/26: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302860010-3
STAT
A_,rl.,L~
C U lr I __/
Nicaragua
p annirg an Lac
to-were flashed on a screen in a! tics
State Department auditorium and Inman said after. a marked dif
By William Beecher
Globe Staff analyzed by John. Hughes, a depu-, ference in tactics during the 1960s
f
t}~director of DIA who first came toi when Cuba actively supported
WASHINGTON - Top American public:attention -in 1962 when hey*guerrilla' movements In Latin
intelligence officials charged -yes b efed?on photos of Soviet missiles America -while the Soviet Union
terday that the military buildup-4rr Inv Cuba. , concentrated on established Com-1
Nicaragua has already "upset the. The photos were detailed munist Party political organiza-I
military balance" In Central Amery enough to show what Hughes de-i tions in the region, the two coup-1
ica and appears aimed at support scribed as troops in the field in tries now appear to be coordinating;
ing revolutionary movements or I` icaragua training with Soviet) efforts to actively support, supply
threatening direct intervention h-t antiaircraft and antitank guns.
and advise guerrilla movements.
the future. .' - Since the rise of the Sandinistas; Asked what was behind the
One of the officials, Adm. Bobby 14 Nicaragua, Hughes said, regular! buildup in Nicaragua, Inman said I
Inman, deputy director of the Cen atmy. garrisons have been expand-I he could recall a time when the I
tral Intelligence Agency (CIA), said- e&from 13 to 49,' and 14 new air:-. United States regarded Castro as
it appears to be following "exactly' f(lds~,have been built, including merely an "agrarian reformer" and
the same pattern" as occurred im fdur with runways long enough tol withdrew support from Fulgencio
Cuba after the rise of Fidel Castro.,}aetoi1 modate MIG21 fighter-bomb- Batista, the Cuban dictator. But
r
ing that they're standardly greeted ense against any combination of
-;
less 'How can we believe you un- Its neighbors. The intelligence. offi-
~` VQ + arms
' _ i ess you show all the detailed evi- dials said there are more than 6000
? -'-'~~ dence? Cubans: in Nicaragua, including
balance, - CIA Director William Casey'ex- about 2000 military and security
-,.. ercised his authority to declassify advisers. Another 50 to 75 Soviet
(' of -;;I some of the intelligence in order to officers, they said, were on hand to
`e make a public case, Inman said. advise senior Nicaraguan military
~L 'j o A series of reconnaissance Ahoy' officers on force 1 d
In a briefing at the State Depai-f_
BOSTON GLOBE
10 MARCH 1982
er ?, when Castro assumed power, In-
Inrban said the intelligence corn-! man said, he built Cuba into a mili-
munity believes that Nicaraguan' tary bastion for the export of revo-
pilots now undergoing "advanced" I lution in the Western hemisphere.
filght; training in Bulgaria and "I believe .were seeing exactly
Cuba. will return home later this; the same pattern in Nicaragua, " he
year sand that MIG21s probably declared. ' -
ment. complete with aerial recon-
naissance photos taken as recently,
as two weeks ago, officials from the
CIA and Defense Intelligence Agen=
cy (DIA) attempted to document
publicly for the first time evidence
gua.. model, Hughes showed photos of a
The public briefing's, which sup- ii_raining facility near Managua'
of the military buildup in Nicara- ill be delivered shortly thereafter. Hughes showed before-and-after
gua as well as of alleged Nieaita- ` ' The scope of facilities being con-'photos of. several Miskito Indian
guan destruction of Miskito Indian s`ructed, Inman added, probably villages on the Nicaraguan side of
villages on the Nicaragua-Hondu- means that another 50 to 75 Soviet the border with Honduras, which'
. ras border. t4nks.Nyill be added soon to the 25, he said showed the systematic
Administration officials are ex- T55 tanks now in Nicaragua. By burning down of all homes, I
pected to follow later this week; w~ay'9f comparison, he said. Guata- churches and other'structures,in
possibly Friday, with their long n4ala has onlyfive World War II 'January and February. Some
promised evidence of outside mill _tanks" 10.000 Indians have been forcibly
tary supplies to the guerrillas iri EI Besides infantry and armorecit relocated in Nicaragua, he said,
Salvador and of command and cony, battalion garrisons, which he said, and another 12,000 have fled to
itol Hill this week, are aimed at the
rising tide of skepticism that 'tlie`,
Administration maybe overstating
the case for Cuban and Soviet in-
terference in Central America.
"I've watched over the oast cou-
pie of weeks public servants trying short of tying Nicaraguans to that ' Sandinista programs and the latter
to ' grapple with the difficulty off raid. - . ! may have feared they would make
conveying information while, pro- In answer to questions. Inman' common cause with Nicaraguan
tecting critical Intelligence sources !said the scope of facilities under exiles In Honduras. - `
and methods,". Inman said,. "find- !construction suggest plans for- a Jaime Wheelock Roman. a
Nicaragua standing military -force -member of the nine-man Sandin
,of from 25,000 to 30,000 men and a `? ista National Directorate, which
militia of 100,000 to 150,000. Such 1 rules Nicaragua, claimed in a'news
is force: he said, .was much 'larger conference last week in Washing=
;than Nirnrncs;,d --.1.4 -15A r__ 'a- f.,..' +1'-*.' *~e c j__~ -- -- )val was
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/26: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302860010-3
Asked why this was going on,
Inman said he could only speculate
that the Nicaraguans might want
commando-type training in how tol to clear the area preparatory to
attack airfields and destroy planes! moving a Cuban military unit into 1
with small explosive-satchel a nearby facility under construe-1
charges. He noted an effective at-, tion. - -
tack of that sort occurred recently Other sources suggested the!