'TIMES' SPREADS DUBIOUS EL SALVADOR STORY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000200820012-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 10, 2010
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: February 27, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/11 :CIA-RDP90-008458000200820012-3
ARTiCL~ A,~P:r~1RED
021 P~rGI; ~ ?
But U.S. T-Tfon't Counter
`~'ir~~~' ~p~'e~~s ~~~~ou~
~~ S~lva~ar 5~m~y _.
RU~?rr Ev~rTs
27 FEBRUARY 1982
actually participated in the torture sessions.
,I Radio Moscow claimed that some of the Salvador-'
. -~ ens who had come to the U.S. for military training ~
were "specially chosen" by the CIA and the Pen-'
tagon to learn "the art of torture" and "haw to
:set up prisons and concentration camps." '
~ - .
The U.S. Embassy in EI Salvador cabled the i ~ In the embassy cable, obtained by HUMAN
State Department on January 25 asking that; l' VENTS, attention is drawn to the fact that
"widest possible attention" be focused on "a' offer the Tirnes story appeared, "Radio
tofaI3y false articIe~'.in;the:Ianuary 11 New York - IVroscow began playing same tune almost
Times~alleging tliat~American-military advisers in immediately." The cable noted that Radio ,
that country observed the torture of two suspected; Moscow, tike the Times, had linked the ai-
.guerrillas.The cable'notedthat RadioMoscow had teged torture sessions to the arrival o? the ~ ~'
exploited the story in "vicious" anti-American Salvadoran soldiers in the U.S. ~ _
propaganda broadcasts beamed to Latin America. t
Washington should expose "this blatant example But "the embassy believes. that the allege-
of inaccurate news reporting on'Salvador-and its tions...that U.S. personnel witnesszcl so-called
use by the left to attempt to associate US assist- `torture classe's' are-totally-false,'-'-the cable said:-~
once with official terrorism and repression,", the `Furthermore, our investigation has discovered
cable said.:..,... ; .:,-,.-~..~.,.'::.-. , :: = :-, ?::., several discrepancies in the New York Tiinesariicle
-which tend to cast doubt on Carlos Montano's en-
.The Times siory, datelined simply, "Mexico Ci-
ty," and written-by Raymond Bonner;-was based tire account [ofJ the alleged incident. The cable
on an interview with a former Salvadoran soldier added: No attempt was made by NYT to verify
Carlos; Antonio Gomez Montano, who said that story here. ... ~ -
men "he described - as ~ Americans'-'- ~- attended "Even a cursory reading of the January 11 anti-
"training sessions" ~at~which a I7-year-old vr-~*th cle raises twos questions," the cable said. "How_
and a 13-year-old:girl were tortured.-Gomez de- could the NYT publish so prominently such acon-
scribedthe sessions as "torture classes." . ; ; _ demnatory article by a Salvadoran army deserter
without checking out the facts on the ground? A
A photograph -was,~pubIIshed with the story second and even mare serious question has to do
which showed "Some of the 60 Salvadoran soldiers
-who arrived yesterday .at Pope Air Fortx Base, with the timing of the release of the story which
N.C.-, tobegia 10 weeks ~of training at Fort Bragg. itself is not dated. ~ : : ~ -..-, _ , - -_,
An infantry battalion of 1,000 enlisted men and "We have learned. through journalists that a
more than 500 junior:: officers -will be.. Lrained
there." -:._ .... - ~ -
- -Just one day -after `the ~?story appeared; the
Foreign Broadcast 1':nformation Service rtionitored
a Radio Moscow broadcast which used the Times
as its source for the chargt-that "gringo military',
advisers who are, in fact, CIA executioners," had
group of Salvadoran exiles in Mexico, including
dissident Christian-Democrat Hector Dada Hirezi
and ex-owner of the San Salvador leftist daily El
Independiente, Jorge Pinto, offered Gomez's.tale
several weeks before-its Jan: lI publication,-to
several Americat- journalists in Mexico City,-none
of whom} would touch it for its obvious lack of
~ credibility: The NYT not only accepted the story
~tM 1fMM T1114 MWN1i-(.MW.t 1~M -
-
-'Tortur+e CJass,'Salvadaran Says
U.S. Advisers at
claimed. that the Amencan advisers he saw wore
jungle camouflage fatigues and green berets, the.
embassy noted that U.S. advisers have not worn
~~ either. In=fact;~the embassy said they were .pro-
~"~ ~ ?:~--~ ~----~~--~---- -------~ ~ green berets into the country:. Gomez said his pare
__..._...... .r
but held it until the first contingent of Salvadora,-r
military arrived for training in North Carolina."
~__ The cable also detailed-a number of discrepan-
~~ "~ ties in the story. For instance, although Gomez ~
-
.
lr.r~-Y ~-~r_ Yr. .w .... ~ --? ~ _ .r.r~~1? 4t11.. l.v? M..+.a av. wv.?v.r u.....? ~?. ..,.
- Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/11 :CIA-RDP90-008458000200820012-3