CHARGES AGAINST SANDINISTAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302060005-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 25, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: December 6, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302060005-9
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
6 December 1985.
ChargewkwipiKOMEAMI*9Aras
TOM BROKAW: Secretary of
State George Shultz today led
the administration charge
against the role of Soviets and
Cubans in Nicaragua. He called
them a cancer. And he vigor-
ously defended the contras --
.those are the American backed
rebels. -- shooting down a
Soviet built helicopter in
Nicaragua. Fourteen people
were killed, inclgding two
Cubans. And this was Shultz's
reaction.
SECRETARY OF STATE SHULTZ:
Thank goodness-that they did
get ahold of some weapons that
can knock these choppers down
and were able to use them. They
have gotten ahold of missiles,
surface-to-Air ...mis:s.ilas,,end
they hp.v.a figured out Mow to
use them, and they've used. it
effectively in this case. And
I say fine; I'm all for it.
BROKAW: And NBC's Fred
Francis - reports from the
Pentagon tonight that he's been
told by n tiF/Ptt gime greursimo,
and contra- leacJwcw th.okr- trIlr
contras' .-- the
American backed rebels --
brought down two. So.1.4.4.t built
helicopters-tills week.
According to these sources,
the contras used a Soviet built
surface-to-air missile, which
is hand held, to bring down the
choppers.
The contras ace known t
have a few of those missiles.
Nicaragua reacted with anger
to these latest charges from
the administration, recalling
its Ambassador to Washington.
And in Nicaragua itself,
President Daniel Ortega said
this is the beginning of a new
and highly dangerous crisis.
NBC's Mike Boettcher is in
Nicaragua tonight.
?
MIKE BOETTCHER: The workday
was cut short by Sandinista
leaders who asked thousands of
their followers to protest at
the U. S. Embassy. Managua was
making a point to Washington
.that it believes the contra's
surface-to-air missileft have
seriously escalated Nicaragua's
war and perhaps the war in
nearby El Salvador.
Responding to praise of the
missile attack by Secretary of
State Shultz, Nicaraguan
President Daniel Ortega said,
quote, "The use of this missile
by the Contras opens the door
to other guerrilla forces in
Central America to use the same
weapon." It was a clear
reference to Salvadoran
guerrillas who could use the
same type of missile to shoot
down U. S. made helicopters
supplied to the Salvadoran
?
Ortega says the United
States Was mining Nicaragua's
skies as it had mined Nicara-
gua's ports last year.
? The contras proudly dis-
played a surface-to-air missile
to an NBC .camera crew last
summer. Their inexpeuience
with the weapon, evidenced
then, apparently has been
overcome. The missiles
threaten a. growing Fleet of
Soviet built helicopters on
which the .Sandinista army
relies heavily. U. S. offi-
cials contend that many of the
pilots are Cubans.
The contras have learned to
fear the sounds of rockets
blasting from the pods of
Nicaragua's MI-8 and MI-24
helicopters.
The flow of Eastern bloc
weapons to the Sandinista army
has surged in recent months.
So have contra arms' acquisi-
tions. Both .sides are recruit-
ing more men and giving them
better weapons, weapons which
President Ortega now implies
could be used by guerrillas
fighting Central American
governments friendly to the
United States.
Mike Boettcher, NBC News,
_Managua.
,n/- Declassified in Part - Sanitizedpopy Approved for Release 2012/09/25 :_CIA-RDP90-00965R000302060005-9