'CONTRA' SAYS U.S. AID IS WORTH HEAVY PRICES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040069-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 4, 2012
• Sequence Number: 69
• Publication Date: March 6, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040069-5
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
C ,E A:?FEAP 6 March 1985
`Contra'says U. So aid as
By Robert Parry
J- hssocrc~ed Acss ----` -
worth heavy
price
WASHINGTON - Nicaraguan reb-
els are willing to accept heavy casu-
alties in seizing and holding territo-
ry inside Nicaragua if such action is
needed to win renewed U.S. aid from
Congress, the leader of the chief reb-
el group said yesterday.
"It would be costly for us, but to get
the funds we'll pay that. price," said
Enrique Bermudez, military com-
mander of the U.S.-backed Nicara.
guan Democratic Force, the rebel
army based in Honduras and known
by its Spanish initials FDN.
At a news conference, Bermudez
also labeled as "propaganda" allega-
tions by Nicaragua's leftist Sandinis-
ta government that his troops were
continuing to commit serious human
rights abuses.
. However, the Americas Watch
Committee, which yesterday issued a
report containing such allegations,
responded that none of its informa-
tion had come from the Sandinista
government.
The 97-page report by the private
human rights group based in New
York said that all sides in the Nicara-
guan conflict had violated. laws of
war but added that the government
had reduced its abuses in the last
year while those of the contra rebels
had continued unchecked.
Americas Watch also said the Rea-
gan "ministration had "aided and
abetted" the rebel abuses by financ-
ing and defending them It added
that by producing a rebel manual
with advice on "neutralizing" Nica-
raguan officials, the
solicited the contras-to engage in
violations of the laws of war."
President Reagan, in recent ap-
peals for renewal of U.S. aid to the
rebels, has praised them as "freedom
fighters" and the "moral equal of our
Founding Fathers." He has de.
nounced the Sandinistas as "totali-
tarian ... brutal ... cruel."
In the new report, entitled "Viola-
tions of the Laws of War by Both
Sides in Nicaragua," Americas Watch
said the rebels had launched indis-
criminate attacks on civilians, tor-
tured and mutilated prisoners, slain
injured soldiers, taken hostages and
raped women.
The report said the Sandinista gov-
ernment massacred 14 to 17 Miskito
Indians in 1981 and seven others in
1982. But Americas Watch said its
evidence "shows a sharp decline in
violations" by government forces af-
ter 1982, despite some abuses as re-
cently as a year ago.
Reagan has denied that the CIA,
manual, entitled "Psychological Ou
erations in Guerrilla War," encour-
aged assassinations, although sev-
eral passages advised the rebels on
political violence, including one sec-
tion on the "selective use of vio-
lence" to neutralize Nicaraguan offi-
cials.
But Americas Watch asked: "Does
anyone believe that an instruction to
neutralize violently means some-
thing other than assassination?"
Bermudez appeared at the Wash-
ington news conference with three
FDN field commanders as part n_fQie
rebels' campaign to convince Con-
ress and the American public that
the insurgents deserve renewed
backing. The CIA funneled S80 mil-
lion to the rebels from 1981 to last
June, before Congress stopped the
aid. Reagan is seeking S14 million
more.
Bermudez described congressional
backing for the rebels as vital if the
insurgents are to maintain morale
and continue receiving assistance
from other sources, whom he would
not, identify.
He said it would be "a psychologi-
cal victory for the Sandinistas if Con=
gress does not approve the aid." He
added that with sufficient backing,
the rebels could defeat the govern-
ment this year, or at least force it to
make major political concessions.
Told that some members of Con-
gress were unwilling to continue
backing a movement that has held
no significant territory, Bermudez
said his forces "have the capacity" to
do that but feared a set-piece battle
would give the.,Sandinistas "an op-
portunity of inflicting a single defeat
on us."
But he added: "If that's necessary,
we'd do it."
FDN forces tried to seize towns in
northern Nicaragua in late 1983 but
were beaten back by the Sandinistas.
Commander Tigrillo, the pseud-
onym of one of the three officers
with Bermudez, said the FDN does
effectively control some territory in
northern Nicaragua after destroying
a number of army barracks.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040069-5