CENTRAL AMERICA--TAKING THE INITIATIVE TO RALLY REGIONAL ALLIES AGAINST NICARAGUA'S SUBVERSIVE AGGRESSION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88B00443R000401950013-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 3, 2011
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: April 22, 1986
• Content Type: REPORT

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The Requ rement to Implement
overnments including the United
On June 23, 1979, all OAS g
ates called for the immediate and resolution ofptheeXVII
off the Somoza government, through _
o
Meeting of Consultation of Ministers which r'ign eadsAasbirs o
the Organization of American Sta
follows:
"WHEREAS: .
the
"The people of Nicanconflictsthatzisgcausing
horrors of a fierce armed
grave hardships and loss pof life# and olitical* socials anrown
a ono -
country into a serious .ic upheaval;
"The inhumane conduct of the:dictathei l regime
governing the country,?as evidenced by report of
, is the
the inter-American oco~esa=~ tic situati onhts faced.by
fundamental cause ands
the Nicaraguan people "The spirit of hemispheric Solidarity void that
an unaable
guides. Hemisphere relations places ert obligation on the American countries eod exto the every
effort within their power, to put
bloodshed and to avoid the prolongation of this
conflict which is.disrupting the peace of the Hemi-
sphere:
"THE SEVENTEENTH' MEETING OF CONSULTATION OF
MINISTERS OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.,
"DECLARES:
"That the solution of the serious problem is
exclusively within the jurisdictioh of the people of
Nicaragua.
"That in view of the seventeenth Meeting tof
Consultation of Ministers of Foreign A-ffairs s'
solution should be arrived at on the basis of the
following:
i. Immediate and definitive replacement of the
Somoza regime.
2. Installationinrnment, Nicaraguan territory of a
democ the composition of whirhhups
should include the principal representative groups
which oppose the Somoza regime and which reflects the
free will of the people of Nicaragua.
3. Guarantee of the respect for human rights of all
Nicaraguans without exception.
4. The holding of free elections as soon as
possible, that will lead to tt hehatestablisent
peacea
truly democratic government freedom, and justice.
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26 June 1985
NICARAGUAN AGGRESSION AGAINST COSTA RICA AND HONDURAS
1979 TO PRESENT
Since seizing power in July 1979, the Sandinista government has attempted
to intimidate, coerce, and destabilize the governments of Costa Rica and
Honduras through direct actions and through its extensive ties with local
leftist extremists. The following chronology details Sandinista border
incidents/military incursions, terrorism, guerrilla infiltration, and support
to local radicals.
COSTA RICA
October 1980 Sandinista forces three times attacked Costa Rican vessels
engaged in medical missions on the San Juan River.
November 1980 The Sandinista Army attacked with machinegun fire a Costa
Rican vessel sailing up the San Juan River. Costa Rica has
navigational rights on the river guaranteed by two
nineteenth-century treaties.
December 1981 The Costa Rican Communist Party, which sent cadres to fight
with the Sandinistas in 1978-79, formed its own paramilitary
unit sometime in late 1981. The Sandinistas provide
extensive training and logistical support to this brigade,
which since its formation has been participating in
counterinsurgency operations in southern Nicaragua against
anti-Sandinista rebels.
February 1982 The principal suspect in an assassination attempt against
anti-Sandinista leader "Negro" Chamorro was the Nicaraguan
consul in Liberia, Costa Rica; he returned to Nicaragua, and
the case was never completed.
March 1982 Two Nicaraguans were among nine arrested when Costa Rican
security forces uncovered a terrorist cell in San Jose with
$500,000 in arms, the largest and most sophisticated cache
discovered to date in Costa Rica.
1
UNCLASSIFIED
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May 1982 San Jose protested border raids by Nicaraguan soldiers
during late May in the provinces of Upala, Los-Chiles, and
San Carlos.
June 1982 A Sandinista patrol intercepted a Costa Rican tourist boat
on the San Juan River and held tourists for several hours.
Both sides agreed to form a mixed commission to deal with
possible border violations.
The Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry affirmed the continuation of
Nicaraguan police and customs control of the San Juan River,
presumably as part of a strategy to pursue anti-
Sandinistas.
July 1982 Three Nicaraguan diplomats implicated in the bombing of a
Honduran airline office in San Jose were expelled; a
Colombian responsible for the bombing claimed that he had
been recruited, trained, and directed by the Nicaraguan
Embassy in San Jose.
April 1983 Costa. Rica charged Nicaraguan troops were staging cross-
border raids.
An unmarked Nicaraguan patrol boat fired shots and captured
three US fishermen, apparently in Costa Rican waters.
June.1983 One Nicaraguan terrorist was killed and another severely
injured when a bomb intended for anti-Sandinista leaders
exploded prematurely in a San Jose parking lot.
September 1983 The Costa Rican Security Council condemned Nicaraguan Army
shelling of public buildings in Costa Rican territory.
December 1983
February 1984 Sandinistas attacked Costa Rican border guards at
Conventillos.
April 1984 Nicaraguan naval vessels captured two Costa Rican fishing
boats in Costa Rican waters.
2
UNCLASSIFIED
STAT
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A Costa Rican security official claimed a Nicaraguan mortar
round fell near the Pan American Highway at Penas Blancas;
six border guards investigating the mortar attack came under
Sandinista machinegun fire.
a ssmall land
January 1985 Costa a that Ricans fire
north of Barra del Colorado.
May 1985 Sandinistas fired on a Costa Rican civil guard patrol unit
near Las Tiricias, Costa Rica, killing two.
June 1985 Sandinistas fired on a Costa Rican civil guard unit near Las
Tiricias a second time.
HONDURAS
November 1979 Several Sandinista units crossed Honduran border in pursuit
of former members of defeated Somoza National Guard.
December 1980 Prominent Honduran banker kidnaped in Tegucigalpa by members
of leftist group, Cinchoneros, aided by Salvadoran
insurgents; released in March 1981 after family paid over $1
million in ransom; some members of Cinchoneros group
reportedly had close ties to the Sandinistas as early as mid-
1980.
March 1981 Honduran airliner hijacked to Nicaragua by Cinchoneros and
Salvadoran guerrillas.
September 1981 Two US military trainers attacked and killed in Tegucigalpa
by the Lorenzo Zelaya terrorist group; Honduran legislative
palace also bombed.
November 1981 A leader of the Cinchonero group revealed that members of his
organization were being trained in Cuba and that its leaders
met regularly with Sandinista officials in Nicaragua.
March 1982 Honduran businessman kidnaped in Tegucigalpa by local
Communists aided by Salvadoran insurgents, reportedly at
Cuban urging.
July 1982 Two major electric power substations in Tegucigalpa bombed by
Lorenzo Zelaya group and Salvadoran insurgents; damage
estimated at $20 million; economic counselor at the
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Nicaraguan Embassy subsequently implicated by two captured
terrorists; Nicaraguan national, later identified as
Sandinista Comandante Modesto, killed by Honduran security
forces during raid of terrorists' hideout.
Nicaraguan military unit crossed border to ambush anti-
Sandinista insurgents;. first Sandinista attack against rebels
inside Honduran territory.
August 1982 Air Florida, IBM, and Salvadoran airline offices
in Tegucigalpa bombed by Lorenzo Zelaya and Salvadoran
guerrilla groups demanding end to US involvement in
Nicaraguan and Salvadoran affairs.
September 1982 Cinchoneros, assisted by Salvadoran guerrillas, seized 105
Honduran businessmen in San Pedro Sula, demanding release of
some 60 Honduran and Salvadoran leftist extremists; operation
reportedly planned in Cuba; captives released after safe
passage allowed by Honduran Government.
.December 1982 Nicaragua began training.groups of 20-30 Honduran guerrillas;
training included combat experience against anti-Sandinista
insurgents inside Nicaragua; members of several Honduran .
extreme leftist groups fought in Nicaragua for periods-of 4-6-
months, at least until the summer of 1984.
May 1983 A captured leader of the Lorezo Zelaya group revealed that
the Sandinistas had provided his organization with weapons,
funds, false documentation, safehaven, and propaganda
materials.
July 1983 Sandinistas infiltrated 96 Cuban- and.Nicaraguan-trained
Honduran insurgents into Olancho Department in south-central
Honduras; group's objective reportedly was to establish a
base of operations and an insurgent organization in the
Honduran interior; most had undergone military training for
up to two years in Nicaragua and at a guerrilla training
facility in Pinar del Rio, Cuba; Honduran military captured
or killed several insurgents, and others surrendered or
starved to death in the jungle.
September 1983 Cinchoneros, claiming retaliation for the bombing of
Managua's international airport by anti-Sandinista
insurgents, dynamited Honduran airlines office in San Pedro
Sula.
4
UNCLASSIFIED
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July 1984 Some 20 Honduran guerrillas trained in Cuba and Nicaragua
infiltrated into Honduras, supervised and supported by
Sandinista Army; group had been issued M-16s--some of which
have been-traced back to Vietnam--in Nicaragua; instructed to
create military organizations, conduct political and military
training, organize intelligence collection, and create a
logistics base; Honduran military rounded up most by October
1984.
March 1985 Nicaragua fired mortars into El Paraiso and Choluteca
Departments, according to press reports.
April 1985 Sandinista troops fired mortar rounds into Honduran
territory, particularly around suspected anti-Sandinista.
concentrations; Nicaraguan patrol boat attacked Honduran
fishing boat.
Seven Nicaraguan agents captured in Honduras providing
training and arms to local terrorists.
May 1985 Sandinista forces launched ground assaults as well as
artillery and rocket barrages into areas of suspected anti-
Sandinista presence inside Honduras.
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UNCLASSIFIED
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Year
1959
Cuban Action
OAS 1esoonse
PANAMA - 80 to 100 fully
ax ed everrillas leave Cuba
to invade Panama.
OAS investigating
committee, using
aircraft & petrel
boats force in-
vading forces to
.surrender.
1961
1961
1962
-1963-64
1967
PERU alleges Cuban inter-
vention and subversion.
COLOMBIA alleges Cuba a
threat to peace and security
of hemisphere.
CUEA allcws installation of
nuclear weapons by USSR.
VENEZUELA alleges Cuba de=
positing arms in Venezuela.
OAS Council con.-
f irms Cuban
subversion.
Castro government
excluded from part
cipation in OAS.
OAS authorizes
individual and
collective
measures including
force.
OAS verifies facts
as true, votes
sanctions against
Cuba. _
VENEZUELA and BOLIVIA, OAS condemns Ci:be
allegations of Cuban inter- extends sanctions
vention. eluding cutoff of
,
l
es
government sa
credits to Cuba-
Since 1959, the OAS has sanctioned Castro Cuba a-number of
times for its export of subversion, which the OAS has
considered a form of armed aggression. For. example, in
1964, the 9th Meeting of Consultation of the OAS Ministers
of Foreign Affairs established, among its conclusions, that
"the Republic of Venezuela has been the target of a series
of actions sponsored and directed by the Government of Cuba
openly intended to subvert Venezuelan institutions and to
overthrow the democratic government of Venezuela through
terrorism, sabotage, assault and guerrilla warfare and that
the aforementioned acts, like all acts of intervention and
aggression, conflict with the principles and aims of the
inter-American system (and therefore) resolves to declare
that the acts verified by the investigating committee t
are considered an aggression and an intervention 'on the part,
of the. Government of Cuba ,in the statesaffairs (of the OAS).
Venezuela which affect all
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LOS ANGELES TIMES 22 APRIL 1985
CENTRAL AMERICA 9 INTERNATIONAL LAW
By John Norton Moore
A prindpal argvat ant or those opposed to
U.S funding of the tounternvoluuonaries
In Nicaraju. IS that it 'would be Illegal
under accepted rtonns of International law.
The rule of law to at stake in Central
America But the real threat is the serious
and Sustained armed attack directed by
Cuba'and Nicaragua against E1 Salvador
and neighboring states. in violation of the
Uruted Nations and Organization of Ameri.
can States charters.
To focus on the Issue of funding. rather
than on the Cuban-Nicaraguan attack, is to
accept the childhood plea. 'It all started
when he hit me back" More dangerously, It
Is to confuse the defense with aggression,
and thus to undermine the single most
important normative restraint against the
use of force. Moreover. the goals of
deterrence and stability are at risk if we
ignore the commitment made repeatedly
by out country: that we will take effective
action against aggressive use of force
intended to deprive nations in this hems.
sphere of their right to self-determination.
This commitment is found in the Monroe
Doctrine and the hemispheric Rio Defense
:peaty. and in the congressional Cuban
resolution of 1962 and the 1965. House
resolution on communist subversion in the
hemisphere.
Since seizing power in 1959. F1del Castro
has directed insurgencies against 17 Latin
American nations. Until the attack against
D Salvador. the most serious of these *-as IN
sustained insurgency against Venezuela.
condemned in 1964 by the OAS: The
success of the Sandinistas-with-substan.'
auto, particularly D Salvador. That
efrats Include meetings bald In Cuba in
December, 1979. and May, 19e0, to forte a
united Salvadoran Insurgency under Cuban
and Nicaraguan Influence and aaatsta?a.
Including arms supply. trairtinj_lfnancrtg.
command and control, and political and
technical support.
The resulting Insurgency now Aelds
?eD-trained armed forces one-fifth the
size of the Salvadoran army. and opcrittes
67 offices in 35 countries In political support
of the continuing attack. As defectors'
reports and weapon serial number dem-
onstrate, the preponderance of the Irnstt.
genii' weapons continues to be supplied
erernally. In fact, they had American
1d-16 rifles and H-6p machine guns (from
Stocks in Vietnam and Ethiopia) even
before the Salvadoran army had those
Y eapona
Congress Itself found, in the Intelligence
Authorization Act of 1983, that the actions
of the governments of Cuba and Nicaragua
threaten the independence of El Salvador
and threaten to destabilise the entire
Central America region, and the gove.-n.
menu of Cuba and Nicaragua refuse to
cease those activities'
These Cuban-Nicaraguan activities.vio.
late the United Nations Charter. the Char-
ter of the Organization of American States,
the Rio Defense Treaty, the United Nations
definition of aggression, the 1965 U .N.
General Assembly declaration on ttiter-
vention. the 1970 General Assembly
friendly relations' declaration. the 1972
basic prind
les a
re
t
th
197
p
g
emen
.
e
5 Mel.
tial Cuban support-two decades after sinki principles and even the Soviet draft
Castro's takeover in Cuba provided new deftnitioc of aggressiom
ideological fervor and opportunity for what This pattern of ongoing aggression cm.
is now a pint Cuban-Nicaraguan policy of statutes an armed attack justifying the we
revolution without frontiers.' of force in collective defense under Article
Both the bipartisan Kissinger Commis- 51 of the U.N. Charter and Article 3 of the
lion and the House Select Committee on Rio Treaty. Indeed. Article 27 of the OAS
fntefltgcnce have concluded that Cuba and Charter declares that such an.attack Is 'an
YicAragua art engaged In efforts to over. act of aggression against ... (all) the
1hmw the governments of neighboring American rates,' and Article 3 of the Rio
36
PR. 11.5
Treaty cxates a legal obligation on
United states to assist in meeting
armed attack. This obligation Is parall
that owed by the United States to
North Atlantic Treaty Organization fu
Article S of the NATO Treaty 1 in the e
of an attack on a NATO member.
A response in defense may lawfull
overt, covert or both. as has been the
In virtually every conflict in which Ar
ca has fought In this century. In World
n no one suggested that Allied supper
partisan fortes or covert operatior
Germany were illegal in responding to
aggression.
Certainly responses in defense mu
proportional. But how is it disproporui
for the United States to respond agar
covert Cuban-Nicaraguan armed a
aimed at overthrowing the democrat
elected government of El Salvador b
ruling out that sane objective ago,
totalitarian Sandinista military J into?
One of the most serious contemp
threats to world order is the aggri
covert political-military stuck by a
vernally instigated and supported gut
insurgency. Such an attack from Cub
Nicaragua is the world threat to C,
America Congress must decide whet
meant what ft said in the 1962 (
resolution. when ft pledged `tha.,
United States is determined to preve
whatever means may be necessary. U
tng the rue of arms, the )Aarmst-Le
regime in Cuba from extending. by to
the threat of force, its agg-essr
subversive activities to any part e
hemisphere.'
Joan Xorton Moore is thoirmcrt
American l3otAssrt. Standing Cornmi
Law and N'ationaf Security and a pr,
of international' low at the Vniver,
Virginia. He has served as cot 'set
United Stores in the Nico rv pva C= f
this International Court of Jur'.sce n.r
cz-p*cuedore his own.
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