GUERRILLA QUEST FOR U.S. SUPPORT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100510013-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2010
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: March 30, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/24: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100510013-0
LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH
30 MARCH 1981
S0 1E'of the most revealing'
documents on the foriegn
connections of El. 'Salva-
dor's :guerrilla Left:. were
-withheld 'by. the '.State
Department- J from'. . the'
inchthick- dossier it-made
publib last month.
{ . '
Through Congressional sources
in .. '..WVashington' .I... have ,
obtained , a .?' photographic
that . contains a -. 22-page
report - by - Senor Farid
Handal, 'brother;. Of .. Shafik:
Handal, the Salvadoran
Communist: leader,. on a visit:
he made;to the United States
.in.? the' spring -of, last -year
fo, mobilise support for'; the..,
guerrilla 'cause
In the"' 'report Farid Iiandai
describes meetings l-with
-Cuban intelligence .: officers ,
based--in. New York,'with a::
Palestine Liberation Organisa-?
tioa s. representative.-'. V nth,.
networks of - radical ::Latin-':
American r'' ? exiles, 'with
Congressmen'---- and : - 'with ?
individuals from the Institute
} for :Policy Studies ;and the
{ National Council of Churches. .,
?NYeb of - committee;,=
I
Hand':Ys;reoort details coatribu-
tions -'made ? by these :and .
others-notably- the. Commu- _
{ gist -party,. USA to the
creation of -a wreb `-`soli
darity : - committees". -'and'
lobbying caucuses that have
'since been, at the forefront...
of -the campaign , to sabotage
the-:Reagan Administration's
?intetvention in'support of-the
present ? Government of, El
Salvador.-
'The-'report also, contains some.
startling revelations' -about
the role' of : the- Mexican
:.Government and 'a senior:
-State Department official who,
has since been removed. from
his -job., '
Setting -off" from . San -Jose,
Costa Rica, in February last
year in the guise of a spokes-
mart e for - the Salvadoran
National Democratic Union
party, Farid 'Handal''visited-
New ~ York,- .. Washington;
Chicago, San Francisco. "and '
Los ' Angeles, - and . created
joint solidarity committees in
several of these cities = al-
though he--frequently com-'
plains in his report about the
bickering -between rival Sal-
came. from the - merican '.
Communist party' and the
Cuban intelligence station in
New York. . ? E
Mr Sandy . 'Polak, '"'of the -
Communist' part,' for ex-1
ample, "proposed a national
_ /?. of. the. United States-Peac&-
? ;' Council J American arm of
. y "ROBERT ' iOS5. h a World rnenc CF ~cll)'the
The= . seminar: was ,'used . to -Amnesty - - 'International,
assemble members for1a' new benefit ~f ? progressive';Con- , OLA-and various important
International Committee of gressmen, -for toe purpose of ,unions . I?; . .,
;,Solidarity with the P ' ple:of
El- Salvador ' ` c
However,' gas ' Hapilaij notes,
there .ivere-'only:'two ;Salva-.
dorairs' on this committee ate
the :outset..
The`other.members came from
Chile; `, Argentina4- Bolivia,
Ecuador, .Uruguay;,the .Dom:
inican .Republic, ands Cuba.
Council of Churches.
'
In
San Francisco, according to
Farid Handal, his. meetings
were': attended:'...by;=;"three
priests . from... the..National
Council . of Churches.,,I .
Of: them he says:- .`,'.They' com-
pletely supported our??nlanc
l'
rudent
he
t
_ _ .,
.
w.
s
en Only.. It was,.
had initiated approaches and I He,:}yas 'contacted in ZVashiirx eery. tiring because the.Su co-operation . previously;?- but ton by Ycronica,lt a
lean- talk_4- more than .I do,'
'Chi ...1. _ . . J
b
d >_ - bor
h
eg
n inn
a
theT- ;division between:: the.
groups'-and the .'lack- of a
single directorate."
Two' more ? priests .from "the
National. Council- turned up.
sn -the 'course-.'Of.?,Handal'3 j
o
w
rking . discussions wvith
Conrimunist, Trotskyite;-and.
1~2aoist. organisations.
Tlie, Church in the- United
States continues to..play a..III
leading role' 'in -`opposing
American involvement in El
Salvador.,
In:-"New" York, Farid' Handal'
says, -he ?me?t officers of ? the
' Cuban:: secrcc service , the
D G I, who are,. ..Operating
under - cover at , the'' Cuban
mission: ? to' .. the, ? -.United
Nations,:. at-'.the home of.
Senor - AIfredo. ? Garcia
' Almeida;
} Significantly the `Cuban intelli
gence -officers gave him his
main: support in 'develooina
contacts.' on Capitol Hill-'
f confirmation of `the
intensive efforts -of the D G I ?
, and the'Americani; department
of, the Cuban -' Communist
party to--recruit agents of in-
1 fluent?n ;n r-Y,n--
vadoran Leftist groups, ? '
la Washington, he notes, Senora
Isabel Lctelier?(widow of the
exiled Chilean Socialist leader
Ir
ua:raalu
anuals own wordS:_
agent before ? his murder in' .~
Washingtonr '''organised a with regard to`my. stay in'
seminar for him at the InstI- the-+United;States.' and", the
tote 'for Policy Studies: work- I --should-. accomplish
Jthere, :theyy (the D.GI men)
I recommended.. that.'-; I - should
'; carry out work of an' informa-??
:finnal nah?rp ahnnF?
_
`'? _ ? _
_>_- %' . f-?q v .nulu, aUU Zrlev15:on
that. way protect my: visa.. ,. ! p_nxramm' s could -be?'?` finan-
Handal's,;..report continues-:i seed ". under the public.broad-
"." They" offered- to - facilitate. casting system, - according- to.
contacts in- Washington,iAnd. Handal:
they did that. Another o>=
In i ewYork-,'Handal alsiibad interlocutors Was, a ii d a l'e
a PLO -
meetings.with-leaders. of: the representative-: who'' is not
Communist' party; USA' 'i named in the-report' but'was'
116'&t off to a .bad'start .with apparently. a- member' of -the
.'them, but in the. subsequent ! Democratic' 'Front for the;
course of. his' trip '--'-thanks ') ... Liberation, of Palestine. -_ - I
-largely: to the. efforts. of, Irr The Palestinian -proinisea that Sandy Polak, a member. of the:' - the P L 0 , "could -give us
American Communist' party eery valuable help.':.
central = comriiittee~ :.f~f and However, Handal 'ins cautious. A
solidarity co-ordinator,t':-font "The truth 7he ? reports,tthe~' United_ StatesPtice"thathe seemed' ery strange
-
?? va- aac-.. uunlf one nt - the most, fascinating
mission," . ,Handal???'reports. sections- of- Handal's report
"had recommended.' ? Juan describes-.-his-.meetings to
'Ferr-;ra -fro.r T. ruguay T' . wash
t
O
Ku uiua a
It
L n
(Washington O"ffce on Latin
America.) 'Hetelped me at.
W O L A and '.at the' National
- Counj of.-Churches."
Farid :''Handal ;met .-Rep. th u capjt}"
e American -capital..
Ronald..:Dellums...a ' liberal I Senor . Ungo is said' to have '
black : Democi atic Conn re>;? been having: conversations in -
giian, ind,hiis;staff, and they ' Washington with senior State
-also helped.. to broaden ?'bis Department officials. avid -to
network of'contacts; he said.: have ' quoted' M4r `-Robert
In preparation' for a meeting White, then -American -Am-i
with other. members of -the bassador to 'El Salvador, ?as'I
black -caucus on- Capitol Hill. ? say-ing..lie was- "optimistic" ?
Handal notes, "the offices of there would be no American
Congressman 'Dellums -'were, intervention a'r.d ' as' "agree.
turned ..into'L our;.,ofces inn %%itle'what 'Memo'- had
Everything was done?ihere!' said."
The meeting... with'the black Dr Sot "Castellanos .-is-said to
caucus, he states, " took" place have .described a coaver sa-
in the liver of the monster tion he claimed. to have'had
itself "- a reference 'to the with ex-President Oduber of
committee meeting ',room on Costa Rica. after he had
Capitol Hill that was' made 1 talked with President. Lopes }
available,. and an. interesting - Portillo of Mexico.:'.?
reflection on Farid?' Handal's' According to this second hand
attitude- - to democratic account, the ?Mexican leader. ~
institutions.. had expressed -.., sympathy -
National conference. - . with the Salvadoran revolu- `
tion and had suggested that,
It becomes apparent ` frown 'While there ' eras little he
Handal's report -that many of . could do to' give direct' su
p
-
the most productive proposals 'port. he could' "guarantee }
for the . expansion ' of. ,, the , 'that the Guatemalan - Army.
Salvadoran ."solidarity"cam- would' not' intervene:'.':= - -
nairrn" in thn -tfnitnd Stataa -- -- ? '
Ungo. the Salvadoran revo-
lutionary front leader, 'and
Dr. Jorge Sol.. Castellanos
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/24: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100510013-0