CENTRAL AMERICANS REJECT BREZHNEV-CASTRO INFLUENCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100200026-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 26
• Publication Date: August 17, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/09: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100200026-0
DENVER POST
17 August 1980
. Central Americans :reject .Br^ezhnev as .ro 1 uenc4
?To The Denver Post:
AN AUG. 6 Denver Post article, "Somoza
Coup Called Crucial Event," describesa-CIA
view of events in Nicaragua, and presentfiy-irr
El Salvador, as "Cuban-backed" and aimed
at Cuban and Soviet preeminence in Central
America. This view of Central American pol-
itics, in its essential implications, is one thor-
oughly rejected by those closest to the people
and internal situation of Nicaragua and El
Salvador, namely, the religious community. I
refer specifically to the- Jesuit fathers and
brothers of Central America and the United
States, the Maryknoll fathers and sisters, the
Capuchin fathers and brothers, and the bulk
of "the Catholic hierarchy in each country.
Most notable among these was the archbish-
op-,of San Salvador, Monsignor Oscar Rom-
ero, assassinated by a hired gunman March
24,' for his championing of the common peo-
ple against the forces'of repression.
Our experience at. he grass roots with the
common people of Central America indicates,
overwhelmingly that the opposition to pres-
ent government forces in El Salvador and to
the dictatorship of General Somoza has had.
thoroughly native roots. I once questioned an
old-Nicaraguan on*the so-called "Cuban
Connection" being touted by the CIA. He
said to. me in 1978 very simply, "We don't
need Fidel Castro to tell us we are poor."
That, really, is the central issue. The common
people have had their hopes and awareness
raised by their bishops and church them-
selves, by the gospel and their innate patriot
ism. There is precious little room in this con-
text for Castro communism and Russian in-
fluence.
If one considers how thoroughly inaccu-
rate CIA staff members were in assessing de-
velopments in Iran: before the shah's fall, it is
not surprising to. see; them err now in . their
interpretation of Central America. The Cu-
ban-Russian scenario is so. shopworn it
should be embarrassing to trot it out in pub-
lic. The same underestimation of native, na-
tional, Moslem religious opposition to the
shah was evidenced in the CIA view of Iran
in 1978. The consequences for our foreign
policy have been disastrous.
Now, just as outside communist agitation
was and is neither needed nor tolerated in
Iran in the overthrow of the shah, we may be
confident that the Nicaraguans and Salva-
dorans are not going to exchange one form of
dictatorship for another, Somoza for Castro
or. General Romero for Brezhnev.
We of the Catholic religious communities
mentioned above, and I will add, the Latin
Office of the Protestant National Council of
Churches in New York, see the Cuban-Rus-
sian*theme as literally a "red herring." If be-
lieved by the American people it would. ob-
tain for our 'State Department a carte
'blanche for the already destructive' policies
that have marked our relationships with Cen-
tral America over the years. It is further no-
table that the CIA agent referred to in The
Post article was a Latin military officer,
Rafeal Martinez-Boucher. In Central Ameri-
ca no.less creditable witness. could be found
to interpret events than the military. Their
alliance with wealth and power against. the
poor in Central America is the sole factor
provoking violent responses by the common
people.
REV. JOSEPH C. TOWLE. S.J.
Bronx, New York
EDITORS NOTE: The Rev"
,
Joseph,
Towle recently attended -the ~Tekakwitha
Conference of American Catholic Indians,
held at Loretto Heights College-. in Denver..
'He is -director, of social and pastoral minis
tries for the New York ProvinceSociety.of
Jesus 4'?:.:
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/09: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100200026-0