THE SOVIET PROPAGANDA OFFENSIVE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000606380001-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 21, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000606380001-9
X t77 T AP.t'?,,.AR,4,q
~H~et l7A 1 -
A courageous revelation :in Mos-
cow-, and 'new-evidence- of Marxist
infiltration ot.the Rotnan Catholic '
Church in El. Salvador are current',-
reminders : of, the Kremlin's persis-
tence, in attempting to mislead and-
manipulate -public opinion at home
and. abroad..
While the' best-selling novel The
Spike is an overblown dramatizatidn:
of the danger of this Russiandisin
formation.: campaign, there-is'no"'..
doubt that in the real world. the Soo-;
viets;succeed. more: often than the
Western press-would like to.admit.
in distorting. the' news
If:: it had not been for the.. ex
traordinary courage of the' Russian=
ballet dancer,:. Yuri Stepanov, -: the ,
only available account of his reasons:;
for returning, to Russia after-a'two-;
month defection to the -U.S.:wouldhave been--the_Izvestia 'interview
.with him in Moscow after his, return.'
Trying to discourage futuredefec-
Iio s, is. quote toanow_ as
itmar
finding the -riignrmare~ .01
violence and by CIA .ou rage at-
tempts to coerce him into spying.
oc -e y, is completeIc istor? ikon.
of the facts.Stepanov, at great.per-
sonal risk; sought out American cor-?,
respondents:-in. Moscow to, explain
that he- has'the most friendly feel
ings.toward:the U.S. and.only- re
turned to Russia because. of'concern,"
for his wife's welfare
Recallingtliatthe KGB had threat-
ened to break his legs if he'-did not
keep silents ;the - dancer, explained
that he had to spealc out to; correct" ?
the=record"and'_ concluded' , "it:is?a;
question orhonor."Stepanov's.per
sonal integn3y. has.`put a spike in,
thewheelss,oMoscow's '.mighty;
disinformation machine..
WASHINGTON STAR
21 MARCH 1981
Marxists. in" 'El Salvador '.",-Y'-
Meanwhile, in a much more com-
plex and-damaging disinformation
operation, there is now evidence
that the Marxists have succeeded in
infiltrating and winning over in-
fluential elements within the Cath-
olic. hierarchy in El Salvador,
including ''Jesuit priests and lay
workers. According to. a recent-re-
port from the?..U.S. Embassy in San
Salvador, Archibishop 'Arturo Ri-,
vera.has reluctantly.concluded that
he has to,.remove from his Catholic.
organization radical priests and Iay-:
men.who are actively supporting the
communist guerrillas..,.
Inhis`firstmove, the archbishop
has.fire&the Salvadoran staff of the`.
Catholic relief organization, Caritas,
for complicity in hiding arms caches
for:the guerrillas in- church' refugee
camps.' Although proceeding cau
tiously because of threats to hislife
Rivera. is determined to weed -out
communist sympathizers .: in- the
Catholic 'radio station and newspa
per who -have astutely tilted their:
reporting, tofavor - the guerrilla
cause.:
While declaring thP Church neu-
tral in the political struggle and con.
demning the -right-wing ::.terror,'
Rivera has lent his full support to
President Duarte's land reform and
stated that the guerrillas "have
. As there
of The view York limes demon-'~_
strates, even the most prestigious,
American newspapers are not im-
mune to occasional deceptions per-
petrated against - them. In her
column on the op-ed page the --
imes on :area 6, r ora Lewis
e
quoted a
approvingly'!
rom waa sue _ c as t
sent gaper urawn up -p e rom
tnei the ate and Defense e-
par wens an a dated l Nov. .b,a . tae stated at s cumenr
seen circulated in the manner
:prescribed when 'a' policy. has been
established but-serious doubts re-
main among an important group'of
-knowledgeable officers.".
A "Spurious" Document
She urged the Reagan admini"stra--
tion to heed the call of the authors
of this document for immediate ne-
gotiations with the communist guer-,
rillas, but unfortunately the authors
could not be found and no such of-
ficial dissent paper.. existed. As cer-
tified by the State Department, the
document she quoted was"spurious
and the authors of this fabrication
have preserved their anonymity...
On - March '7, the Times tried to
explain.thatMiss Lewis had received
the-document from a news source
h
-
d
s
e
-reliable and Miss'.
made violence and loyalty to: Marx- 1 considere
ism their watchword, and because Lewis in a subsequent column ad-
of that the, majority have ,turned miffed her mistake. But the damee
their backs 'on them." had been done and Castro will ex
'
In his increasingly outspoken cri-
ticism'of communist tactics,. the re-
doubtable archbishop has staked out
,.a position that 'contrasts with the
stance of American Catholic bish-
ops._?In:,view :of- Rivera's conviction
that: the;, Salvadoran Church itself
has,-been: infiltrated the American,
hierarchy might want to take a close
look at their reporting from Church
sources .in San Salvador. They may
be-:.victims of a -very sophisticated
disinformation campaign:
pion the original column through-.
out the hemisphere to prove the U.S.`
government is deeply split.
. There is. no evidence that'the So-
.viets or Cubans had anything to do -
with this ingenious hoaxbut domes--
tic practitioners of-,the black art of
disinformation h~ave.learned lessons
from them. U.S. editors need to main -
tain the healthy scepticism that is -1
the saving grace of journalism
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000606380001-9