U.S. TIES TO ANTI-SANDINISTS ARE REPORTED TO BE EXTENSIVE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404560010-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 15, 2010
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: April 3, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/15: CIA-RDP9O-00552ROO0404560010-3
,ARTICLE APFF_k ED
" P4 ,L
NFU' yCPK TIMES
3 APPTL 1983
U. S. Ties to Anti-Sandi*ni
Are Reported to Be Extens~ve
- The following article is based on reporting by Philip Taubman and Rayrn
Bonner and was written by Mr. Banner.
WASHINGTON, April 2 - A Hondu-
ran who was directly Involved in plan- 1
ning American covert activities reports'
that the United States has been giving
intelligence assistance and military ad-
vice in Honduras to forces fighting the !
Sandinist Government inNicaragua.
According to this Honduran, the
United States was extensively involved
in training and arming the paramilitary
forces before they recently entered
-Nicaragua from Honduras.
The information supplied by the Hon-
duran in a series of interviews over the
last few days was confirmed in large
measure by two senators on the Senate
Intelligence Committee and a highly
placed Reagan Administration official.
in its detail, the information supplied
by the Honduran suggests a mosaic of
American covert activities that Admin-
istration officials acknowledge is ap-
parently having the effect of supporting
the current insurgency in Nicaragua.
The political and military leaders of the
anti-Sandinist forces have openly
vowed to ove-',,prow the Government.
Administration officials say, how-
eve-, that the United States' objective
in Nicaragua is to harass, not over-
throw, the Government. A law passed
by Congress last year prohibits United
States support of efforts to topple the
Sand mist Government.
Administration officials say the
United States' involvement does not
mark a shift in policy, and they main-
taro that the support for the anti-San-
;dinistforces, although increasing, _.re
mains consistent with the original in-
tention of blocking arms shipments
from Nicaragua to-guerrillas in El Sal-
vador.
The conflicting descriptions of the
purpose of the American involvement
may reflect the difficulty inherent in
trying to manage foreign paramilitary
forces in a highly volatile region.
Several senators an the Senate Intelli-
gence Committee, reporting that their
colleagues had grown increasingly Un-
easy in recent weeks about the Ameri- ;
can role in Honduras and Nicaragua,
said the Central Intelligence Agency
had overestimated itg#ability to control
the antiSandinist forces. As a result,
they said, it appeared to have been been
drawn into underwriting more ambi-
tious operations than it intended.
The Honduran informant has close
ties to the Honduran military as well as
American diplomatic and military offi-
cials in Tegucigalpa and was directly l
involved in joint military planning until
early this year. He said that to his
knowledge no Americans were operat-
ing inside Nicaragua with the insur-
gents. He described these covert
American activities:
4Prvviding frequent Intelligence re-
ports to the insurgent forces about the
movement of Nicaraguan Government
soldiers as well as the location of Nica-
raguan tanks and artillery.
cTraining and arming the paramili-
tary forces, including the shipment of
planeloads of arms and ammunitions in
August 1982 to Moskito Indian units in
eastern Honduras. More than 50 United
States military advisers, most of whom
were of Hispanic background and did
not dress in uniforms, trained paramili-
tary units in Honduras last year. The
C.I.A. and the Pentagon refused to com-
ment on these matters.
QPr'oviding underwater equipment
and explosives to Argentine-trained
sabatoge teams that were infiltrated
into Nicaragua earlier this year and
blew up port installations in Puerto
Cabezas in Nicaragua. The C.I.A. and
the Defense Department declined to
comment.
The Honduran source said the intelli-
gence reports are based in part on infor.
mation collected by planes manned 'by
United States Air Force personnel that
make regular reconnaissance flights
along the Nicaraguan-Honduran border
as part of an intelligence-gathering
operation with the code name Royal
Duke.
The reports are given to the Hondu-
ran military with the understanding
that they will be shared with the com-
manders of the paramilitary forces, he
said. The C.I.A. and the Defense De-
partment refused to comment on the
Air Force operation or other intelli-
gence-gathering efforts.
'T'he Pretension is Over,
The activities described by the Hon-
duran source would indicate a far
deeper level of American involvement
in the Nicaraguan conflict than the Rea
gan Administration has publicly ac-
knowledged. The Administration, while
refusing to deny a covert American role
in the fighting, has portrayed the con-
flict in Nicaragua as a factional dispute
between different elements of the coati-
lion that seized power from Gen. Anas-
tasio Somoza Debayle in 1979.
The Honduran informant said the
"real objective" of the operation in
Nicaragua "is to overthrow" the San-
'dinists. He added that "the pretension
is over" that the United States was in.
'terested only in harassing the Sandinist.
Government.
Although he As troubled by the Marx-
:1st orientation of the Sandinista, he said,
he is more cancerned that the current
:hostilities in Nicaragua may expands
'Into a war between Honduras and Nica-
?r The Honduran said the United States
Ambassadorto Honduras, John D. Na,
.groponte, and the chief of the Honduran
military, Gen. Gustavo Adolfo Alvarez
.Martinez, were "the brains behind the
operation."
"They were, and they still are," the
informant said, referring to the role the
two men played during the planning of
the operation and Its execution. He said
the two met daily to discuss the
progress of the war, including strategy.
Mr. Negroponte has refused to com-
ment on such reports.
Three Command Centers
The Honduran said the operation was
being directed from three command.
centers. He said the rebels' command
center was in the southern part of Han-;
duras, and two or three, liaison officers
from the Honduran military were as-
signed there. The Honduran military
high command direct the operation
from its regular headquarters in Ta!
gucigalpa and the United States partici-
pation is directed out of the American.
Embassy, he said.
The three-tier system is apparently
part of an effort by the American mis-
sion in Honduras to remain insulated
from direct contact with the anti-San-i
dinist forces now that the irregular l
troops are operating in Nicaragua.'
C.I.A. officials have cited the system to
Congress as an example of bow the
agency has organized its operations to
remain in compliance with the law, ac.
cording to two members of the Senate
Intelligence Committee.
According to the Honduran inform-
ant, the United States is most active in
gathering intelligence information
about activities inside Nicaragua. Hei
said the United States was supplying,
the Hondurans with surveillance photo-
graphs, tapes of intercepted communi-
cations between Nicaraguan leaders,
and other raw intelligence information.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/15: CIA-RDP9O-00552ROO0404560010-3