INVOLVEMENT SPREADING TO GUATEMALA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100160103-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 103
• Publication Date: April 24, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100160103-3
JACK ANDERSON
THE WASHINGTON POST
24 April 1981
nvoh~ment Spreadin. g
it) ~ Guate
fiiala
1 -4
The conflagration in El Salvador is . still ruled by the same regressive mil- A confidential State Department cable,
spreading across the border into Gua- itary regime. last month spelled out the oil pros-
temala, and, the Reagan administra- : Intelligence reports exist that will. . pests this way: "The optimistic.view
tion is already drafting plans to-'pro- buttress an s decision to make long held byi most oilmen (is) that
vide the Guatemalan generals - with 'Guatemala yet another arena of East- Guatemala does in fact possess signif-
military equipment. f "~' _ est confrontation. M y associate Bob icant reserves on the.. order of the:
justify this increased involvement.-in fens" Intelligence Agency: analysis,. Althodgh I Guatemala expects to
which reports. . produce only about ;15,000 barrels of
the turmoil: in Central. America on "A tape recording recently captured oil =a" day this year, the r; cable notes
grounds that the. Guatemalan guar in a skirmish with Guatemalan guer- that,'a- petroleum consultant has ad-,
rWas are getting support from.. Cuba riles has-provided convincing evidence vised=the government it could be pro-
by way of Nicaragua. But there is of Cuban and Nicaraguan complicity during a million barrels a'day-,within
another, more compelling reason that in or4
will not be mentioned: Guatemala has big' directing an d supporting seven or eight years
oil. Though stdl barely tapped, its oil the Guatemalan Revolutionary Move- What worries the administration is
ment. `Socialist' countries may have that the.United States may be losing
deposits could. make Guatemala a rich :_- already been contacted to supply arms out in. the international competition to
country in a few years an d suppli es, which are to pass develop Guatemala's huge petroleum
Former president Carter; cut off
through Cuba and Nicaragua before resources., Several years. ago, ~Guate
military aid to Guatemala and El Sal being forwarded to Guatemala" main asked for U.S. help in exploiting
valor to show U.S. disapproval of If this has: a familiar ring,, it should. its oil reserves,. but got nowhere. The
their military, dictatorships. But''last Captured documents established the Guatemalans turned: elsewhere. The
January, he reeu=.ied military assis- link between Salvadoran guerrillas State -Department cable notes that
tance to the embattled Salvadoran ,and ? Soviet-bloc nations, which justi- 'U.S. companies have been edged out
junta, which had replaced the old dic- fled the Reagan administration's anti- by [the] French in promising; explo-
tatorship 18 monthsearlier. communist alarms and excursions in ration areas "
President - Reagan. increased the El Salvador. But the Guatemalans have once
arms shipments and -dispatched mil- The DIA appraisal ' claims that again asked for US : help, and our
itary advisers to El Salvador in. the guerrilla strength in Guatemala is embassy in Guatemala City has urged I
belief that the-Soviets are fanning the minimal, and "only small-scale insur a favorable response.'
gent activity is anticipated in the near
flames of rebellion there: Secret intel-
s
say the admnis-
re Et E, including inte r erm. Iny source
ligence
co~Y tration hopes that renewed U.S. mil-
messages? link- the a to the _l.l L_/_ II- - !/
,Cuban-Nicaraguan activity. generals eradicatzY they leftist rebels
Now I have learned than Reagan; before they have a chance to grow
,will soon resume. rsuhtary aid to Gua- into a real threat
temala,.which,,.u alike El Salvador,. is The stakes in Guatemala are high.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100160103-3