WATCHING SOVIET SHIP IN NICARAGUA, U.S. WARNS AGAINST SENDING MIGS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090004-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: November 8, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST A T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090004-9
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
8 November 198l
aching Soviet ship in Nicaragua,
U.S. warns against sending MiGs
By Alfonso Chardy
Knight-Ridder News Service
WASHINGTON - The Reagan ad-
ministration said yesterday that.-.2
has warned the Soviet Union not to
e i~Tver advanced warp apes to Nica
raguan t at S. intelligence is
Xeeping watc on a vierIreVggfite;
now in a Yvicara uan port that could
be carrying Mi21jet fighters,
State Department skesman John
Huai the was deliv-
ered to Soviet officials here and in
Moscow onTuesday,__shortlyafter
U.S. intelligence analysts alerted the
administration about theresenceof
the frei^hter, ~_hich docked_yester
day at the Nicaraguan Pacific port of_
Grinto.
And President Reagan declared
during a news conference yesterday
in Los Angeles that any arrival of
MiGs in Nicaragua would unsettle
the balance of military force in the
region and "would indicate the San-
dinistas are contemplating being a
threat to their neighbors here in the
Americas."
Meanwhile, Nicaraguan Foreign
Minister Miguel d'Escoto told a news
conference in Managua that no war-
planes were aboard the ship. He said
it had been "harassed by a ship, fast
launches and North American planes
that violated Nicaraguan waters."
D'Escoto did not describe the cargo
that he said had been unloaded at
Corinto, and the Pentagon denied
that US. ships and planes had violat-
ed Nicaraguan territorial waters or
airspace.
Hughes and other V ~ cl 1s in-
phasized that intelligence anal,Ysts
were not sure whether er the swa
carrying warpluneS and they re-
fused to say what the administration
would doo i1Tufi i were on boated.
ARTICLE AFfiEPM
ON PAGE
"We are reiterating our position
and underlining how imprudent it
would be for aircraft, should they be
on that ship or any other ship, to
arrive in Nicaragua," Hughes said.
He said that delivery of advanced
warplanes would be viewed "with
the utmost concern" by the adminis-
tration.
President Reagan, speaking at a
news conference in Los Angeles, also
refused to discuss possible action if
advanced warplanes were delivered
to Nicaragua. However, other admin-
istration officials reiterated previous
statements that US. options include
the use of military force to destroy
the planes.
Hughes and other officials urged
reporters to use "extreme caution"
in dealing with the story of the ship
because of the uncertainty surround-
ing the contents of the shipping
crates.
"Our 'cratologists' are certain that
those crates associated with the ship
in question are identical in size and
shape as crates the Soviets have used
in the past to ship MiGs to other
places, but we have no absolute
proof," one senior administration of-
ficial said.
On Tuesday night, the Nicaraguan
government "categorically" denied
that any advanced aircraft were be-
ing shipped to the country. It con-
tended that the U.S. administration's
concern was an attempt "to create a
condition or climate which it would
then use as a justification to carry
out its attacks against the people and
government of Nicaragua."
Miriam Hooker, spokeswoman for
the Nicaraguan Embassy in Washing-
ton, also denied reports in the Wash-
ington Post and the Wall Street Jour-
nal that Bulgarian ships recently
delivered a consignment of military
attack helicopters to Nicaragua.
A White House official said U.S.
concerns about Nicaragua have been
heightened recently by the delivery
of Soviet-made radar equipment,
anti-aircraft guns and armored per-
sonnel carriers.
Nicaraguan diplomats in Washing-
ton, while not specifically denying
that their government is receiving
new arms shipments, said Nicaragua
needs to arm itself to repel a feared
U.S. invasion.
At the State Department, Hughes,
refused to be specific about the
warning sent to the Soviet Union or
to discuss any Soviet response, ex-
cept to say that the warning did not
contain a threat of invasion. It ap-
peared that no formal protest had
bean sent to Nicaragua, but a State
Department spokeswoman said the
Nicaraguans are "well aware of our
position" on advanced combat air-
craft. Hughes said, "We've made it
clear that we deplore the continuing
military buildup in Nicaragua, espe-
cially when that country already has
created an overwhelming military
imbalance in the region.
"And as we have indicated before
and made very clear to the various
parties concerned, the addition of
advanced combat aircraft to the San-
dinista military arsenal would be a
serious development which the Unit-
ed States would view with the utmost
concern, and we are monitoring the
situation carefully."
Hughes also said, "Concerns have
been raised, obviously, about the
contents of that ship, and certainly
we are reiterating our position and
underlining how imprudent it would
be for aircraft, should they be on
that ship or any other ship, to arrive
in Nicaragua."
In Nicaragua, a Western diplomat,
who asked not to be Identified, told
United Press International that "25
Nicaraguans have been trained in
Bulgaria to pilot 21 Soviet MiGs. Now,
these pilots are in Nicaragua."
The MiG-21 is an advanced tactical
jet fighter designed for air-to-air
combat. It has a normal range of
about 700 miles.
The Nicaraguan government is
building an airport large enough to
handle sophisticated jet fighters at
Punta Huete, near Managua. It re-
portedly will be ready at the end of
this year.
Separately, a senior U.S. official
Continued
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090004-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090004-9
said the Soviet freighter has been,
under U.S. aerial and satel, liter
veillance since shortly after it de-
parte rom aBTack Bea port in lade
September or?early-October.
The official said that U.S. intelli-
gence sources witryi~ the Soviet
Union first spotted the distipcdiyg
crates used to sjpMtIR
the docks before the ship sailed:-1~5.
sources ap
Larently_didnot see the
crates being_ loaded and couldnot
d er' iine whether MiGs were in-
st e, he added. When_.the ship _,left p~z'Lthq JA
and the Pentagon began tracking the
ship from both highflying spy air-
cra t an omit n& satellites. t one
point the1Jnited States concluded
that the ship was headed for Peru
with a shipment of spare parts for
Soviet-built military equipment in
use there, and surveillance was re-
laxed. But it was recently resumed
when the vessel bypassed Peru and
headed toward Nicaragua's port of
Corinto.
"That's when alarm bells started
going off around here," the official
said..
The official said the administra-
tion has refrained from making a
direct charge that the vessel is carry-
ing MiGs, in part because the Soviet
Union is not known to have shipped
military equipment directly to Nica-
ragua before and because sensitive
military equipment normally is
shipped into the more secluded Car-
ibbean coast ports of El Bluff or
Puerto Cabezas.
In addition he said, U.S. intelli-
gence analysts ave no a so ut(!
proo in this case. It is a suspicion
but an educated suspicion.'
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090004-9