SANDINISTAS ARE ANTI-SEMITIC, GROUP CHARGES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100260005-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 6, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: March 14, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100260005-1
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LOS ANGELES TIMES
14 March 1985
Sandinistas Are Anti-Semitic, Group Charges
By LAURIE BECKLUND, Times Staff Writer
Less than a month before Con-
gress is expected to vote on a
$14-million - aid package to fund
anti-Sandinista rebels in Nicara-
gua, a group of conservative Nica-
raguan Jews has begun a national
campaign in conjunction with rebel
leaders to convince American Jews
that the Sandinista government is
anti-Semitic and anti-Israel.
The campaign, which began last
week in Los Angeles an move to
Washinton on Wednesday, is
aimed at m ing pressure on Jew-
ish congressmen and non-Jewish
congressmen with Jewish constitu
ents who have opposed CIA fund-
in of the contras as the rebels are
called according to organizers o
the campaign:
The coast-to-coast campaign
was started by Hal Phillips, a
Burbank. car dealer and Reagan
Administration appointee with am-
bassadorial rank to a small U.S..
agency called the Inter-American
Foundation. The foundation helps
coordinate U.S. grants to Latin
America.
Phillips, who is not.Jewish, said
in an interview that the campaign
was conceived and financed by the
Working Group for Latin America,
r which he co-founded.
The campaign began March 4,
when the Working Group arranged
a press conference in Los Angeles
for contras, including Adolfo Cal-
ero, who heads the largest anti-
Sandinista faction.
The press conference was fol=
lowed by a week of personal ap-
pearances in Los Angeles by Calero
and by Nicaraguan Jews Elena
Gorn, and Sarita and Oscar Keller-
man. Gorn and the Kellermans on
Wednesday began campaigning in
Washington, both with contra
leaders at press conferences and in
private with congressmen, at syna-
gogues, and with conservative
groups.
The Jewish exiles steered clear
of calling upon Jewish con re a-
tions to support the Reagan-fa
ministration's appeal for CIA-
port for the contras. However, they
said in personal interviews that
they strongly support the contra
effort.
The campaign revives charges
first raised in 1983 that the Sandin-
ista government forced out Nicara-
gua's 50 Jews through a combina-
tion of anti-Semitic threats and
confiscation of private property. It
also raises anew questions about
the leftist Managua government's
support. of the Palestine Liberation
Organization. Nicaragua has cast
votes against Israel and in favor of
the PLO in the United Nations.
The anti-Semitism issue has
been slow to catch on in the United
States, however, because there are
''virtually no Jews now' living in.
Nicaragua and because delegations
sent to Nicaragua to investigate the
charges came back with mixed
reports.
Anthony Quainton, then the U.S.
ambassador to Nicaragua, reported
to Washington in late 1983 that "no
verifiable evidence" had been
found to support claims of anti-Se-
mitic policies by the leftist govern-
ment.
Many of the roughly 30 Jewish
congressmen have been outspoken
critics of the Reagan Administra-
tion's support of the anti-Sandinis-
ta forces. congress voted ast year
to cut off CIA aid to the rebels who
have been accused of a variety of
human rights abuses A vote is
expected in April to determine
whether to restore $14 million in
CIA aid to the rebels.
The Anti-Defamation League of
B'nai B'rith takes the stand that
Nicaragua's small Jewish commu-
nity was persecuted by the Sandin-
istas. But the ADL, which has acted
as an intermediary between the
Jewish exiles and the Sandinista
government, has stated that' the
anti-Semitism is unofficial and
stems from lingering resentment
over Israel's supplying of arms to'
army of former President Anasta-
sio Somoza.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100260005-1