SANDINISTA OFFICIAL DENIES SALVADOR ARMS SMUGGLING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450036-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2012
• Sequence Number: 36
• Publication Date: March 5, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/26 :CIA-RDP90-009658000302450036-2
Oil PA(:~%.._142
THE WASHINGTON POST
5 March 1982
~~~~~is~a ~~fi~i~l e~5
Arr~gs Sm~g~;l~~
By John M. Goshko
Washington Poet Stat[ Writer
' _ A senior ofricial of Nicaragua
revolutionary regime yesterday de
nied "categorically" that his govern;
rtant is" helping to smuggle. arms to "~
leftist guerrillas in El Salvador, and
~he charged that the ITnited-States
`has launched "a vast plan"~ of pout=;
`:ical, economic and military, actions:
-o--- --- ------.. ,
'z:: The charges were made at a news
.conference here by Jaime Wheelock,
'Nicaraguan minister of- agricult
and agrarian reform and a leading
mAmber pf the' Sandinista National
Liberation Front, the.dominant force
in Nicaragua's government.
In a. speech later to the I:atin;
~uierican Studies Association at the
`~horeham Hotel, Wheelock also put'
forward what had beer} billed in ad-
vance as "a major Nicaraguan pra~
posal" for peace in Central America.:
However, it turned out to be a re-
iteration of the plan adopted at a re_-
'
the
cent meeting in Nicazagua of
Permanent Conference of Political
Parties in .Latin America (COP-
COPP.AL is a grouping of Latin
American Social Democrat and other
left-of-center parties...: ~, :.: .. .
Its.. Managua program, reprinted
in a full-page advertisement in The
Washington .Post on Febh 24,. calls
for resolving the Salvadoran conflict
through negotiations between. the ci=
vilian-military government and the
rebels, and for the United States to
end "its. declared policy of interven
tion" on behalf of the government.
That idea has been rejected re-
peatedly by the Salvadoran govern? 1
ment and the Reagan adritinistra-
tion: ~As a result, it seems unlikely
that Wheelock's proposal" offers any `,
chance for resolving the growing. ten-
sions between the United States andi~
Nicaragua.:: ` ~ ' ,
In fact, during his news ~ confer-,
ante Wheelock seemed primarily in,,;
tot .t. .ate t . ~.
n on rect tng an os nons p
litany of chazges that the United
States is trying ?to overthrow the
Sandinista government and working
to "facilitate a fascistic solution and ~
further - militarization" :> it2~,t Central
"America.. Asked for proof of ~U.S.~ ac-
.tivities aimed at destabilizing.. ic.
aragua,_ e c a : ant1-,
Sandinistg groups: in Nicar~ an-d
in nei hborin :countries such ; as
-Hon ores" are - contro an -l
ante y t e- entr ~ me }genre ~
.A~^ency. a rise er t at~
:these operations are directed by ~
Nestor Sanchez;' ~ an "anti-Castro I
.Cuban exile .who reportediy~ ? was i
.among the leaders of the unsuccess-
ful 1961 Bay of Pigs operation. In +
addition,- Wheelock charged 'that'
Thomas Ot Enders, assistant secre=
tary of state for inter-American af-
fairs, had told a closed congressional
hearing that $19 million had been
committed to a destabilization pro-
gram aimed. at Nicaragua ~_1~..~~.
Wheelock also implied strongly
-that the United States has incited
the Nicaraguan newspaper::: La
Prensa and -various tt~ade unions in
his country to criticize the.govern-
ment "to sabotage our economy and
turn the people against their:. own
revolution." . ~?'+ ^-'. ~? f :~ ;
"There- are too'many thinga~ha -
enin at once to. a coma ence,
he said. " ese a ements ea to
one conclusion. a is t o on y l
force wtt e- power to o. ese
t tngs at onces t s~ tc~ t to prove
1t specs r ut t e fret are ,
t ere." ...: ~ , :.; .? .~ .. - ,
The Washington Post has quoted
informed sources as. saying ;that
;President Reagan had `approved a
proposal to support foreign ? govern-
ments in political and -paramilitary
operations against Cuban-Sandinista
activities in Central America ?and
that the National Security -Council
was considering a $19 million, pro-
posal to back these activities,:~,~;~T-
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/26 :CIA-RDP90-009658000302450036-2