CASEY DETAILS SECRET SOVIET-CUBAN STRATEGY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88G00186R000400410082-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 17, 2011
• Sequence Number: 82
• Publication Date: May 17, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Office of Current Production and Analytic Support
The Operations Center
News Bulletin : WASHINGTON TINES, P-1A & 8A
ITEM No.1
MAY 17, 1985
Casey details
secret
Soviet-Cuban strate
STAT Japan. Capabilities to threaten the the number of radical leftist terror-
Panama Canal in the short term and
tats
By John Holmes Mexico in a somewhat longer term dence indicates tes Nicaraguan Honduras. icacrarag recent evi-
By WASHINGTON TIMES are being developed in Nicaragua, guaan n support
for some South American terrorist
The Soviet Union and Cuba "have established and are I where. the Sandinista revolution is groups and growing contacts with
consolidating a beachhead on the American continent" the first successful Castroite sei- other international terrorist
as a launching pad to subvert the rest of Central and zure of power on the American main- groups"
Latin America, William Casey, the director of the Central land;' he says. CIA analysts have identified "46
Intelligence Agency, will tell the World Business Council "They have worked quietly and indicators of the consolidation of
in San Antonio, Texas, tomorrow. steadily toward their objectives of power by a Marxist-Leninist
At stake, he will tell the organization of chief execu- I building the power of the state secu-. regime;' he says, and since it came
tive officers of major U.S. corporations, is control of the, rity apparatus, building the'to power in 1979 the Sandinistas have
Panama Canal and, ultimately, the oil fields of the Middle strongest armed forces in Central accomplished 33 of these indicators.
East. America, and becoming a center for The indicators measure the move-
An advance copy of the speech was obtained yester exporting subversion to Nicaragua's ment toward one-party government;
day by The Washington Times. neighbors" control of the military, security ser-
tion of the American This lengthy Soviet campaign has vices
the econ-
education
media
cri
d
hi
i
d
'
h
,
,
,
es
p
tt
ng
ar
-
s
Mr. Casey
stakes in Central America is the most comprehensive unleashed "the four horses of the omy; the forming or takeover ot1
t
f
amine, pes
s ease, labor unions and other mass organi-
argument for U.S. assistance to the Nicaraguan resis- Apocalypse -
tance yet put forward by the Reagan administration. war and death." He cites, as evi- zations; the exertion of population
It sets out, in stark and simple terms, the geopolitical dence, widespread famine in Marx- ccontrol; the curbing of religious
.
stakes in Nicaragua - the administration's view of why ist governments in Africa, influence and d support for aligning
Americans should consider its vital interests threatened Pestilence through chemical and the ace, as with the Soviet
by a Marxist government in a small nation in Central biological agents in Afghanistan and Union.
America. Indochina, "war on three continents, He cites the establishment of a
The threat, the CIA director says, is to the Panama and death everywhere" Directorate of State Security to mon-
Canal in the short term, to Mexico in "a somewhat longer ., The unanimous evaluation of itor the behavior of the Nicaraguan
four national estimates" of the U.S.
intelligence community lead the press, the churches and public insti-
United States to believe that "the tutions. According to CIA estimates,
Text of Casey's speech: Page 8A. Soviet Union and Cuba have estab- he says, the directorate is staffed by,
1d among others, 400 Cubans, 70 Sovi-
t
term;' and first consequences of the expansion of Soviet
power and influence there will be "a tidal wave" of ref-
ugees into the United States.
Nicaragua, he says, is but and element in the Soviet
design. Developments there should not be viewed in
"
ltshed and are sense t a
tng a ets, 40 to 50 East Germans and 20 to
beachhead on the American conti- 25 Bulgarians. "There are Soviet
nent, are putting hundreds of aril- advisers at every level of the secret
lions of dollars worth of military lice" he says.
equipment into it, and have begun to Already, the Sandinistas have
use it as a launching pad to carry developed the best equipped mili-
isolation, he says, but as part of "a worldwide process
: their style of aggressive subversion tary in the region, with an active
that has worked in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin into the rest of Central America and strength of 65,000 and almost an
America. I elsewhere in Latin America;' Mr. equal number of reserves, he says.
"This campaign of aggressive subversion has nibbled Casey says. These forces are equipped with
away at friendly governments and our vital interests Nicaragua will become to Latin Soviet tanks, armored vehicles,
until today our national security is impaired in our America as Beirut is to the Middle state-of-the-art helicopters, patrol
immediate neighborhood as well as in Europe. Asia, East, he says, a "focal point for inter- boats and an increasingly compre-
Africa and Latin America;' Mr. Casey says. , national and regional terrorists." hensive air defense system that
The two primary targets of "all this carnage. this Managua's support for training of gives the Sandinistas a military cap-
creeping imperialism" are "the oil fields of the Middle Central American subversives is ability greater than the other Cen-
East, which are the lifeline of the Western Alliance, and well documented, he says. tral American nations combined.
the isthmus between North and South America;' he says. The [Sandinistas] support Salva- As many as 6,000 to 7,500 Cuban
"Afghanistan, South Yemen, Ethiopia, as well as Cam doran communists, Guatemalan advisers and several hundred other
Ranh Bay in Vietnam, and Mozambique and Angola in communists, radical leftists in Costa communists and radical personnel
southern Africa, bring Soviet power astride the sea lanes Rica, and are attempting to increase are at work in Nicaragua, he says.
which carry those resources to America, Europe and
?97.f to f 3
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p)esident of South Yemen and is now They have taken control of the edu- The debate in the Congress dis- from any of these. Since 1980, some
back in Aden after being exiled cation system. Nicaraguan text- closed few who think that what is'200,000 Salvadorans fleeing the
briefly to the USSR. Abd'al Fatah books now teach Marxism. They happening in Central America is a communist-initiated violence in
told Bob of his experience in the attack the tenets of Western democ- desirable state of affairs or that it is their own country have entered the
higher Komsomol school which the racy. They attack traditional reli- compatible with avoiding a possibly U.S. illegally. Illegal movement from
Soviets maintain for training young gious teachings and encourage permanent impairment of our Mexico has increased, with some
revolutionaries from non- children to maintain revolutionary national security and a serious dete- one million Mexicans illegally enter-
communist countries. He explained vigilance by watching for signs of rioration in the American geopoliti- ing this country in 1983 alone. In
that he had been taught in Moscow ideological impurities in their cal position in the world. 1984, the Bipartisan Commission on
that he needed 20 years, a genera- neighbors, friends and relatives. There are some who will be Central America warned that a com-
tion, to consolidate his revolution. The Sandinistas have taken control content with an agreement that the munist Central America would
He would have to control the edu- of the military. They have taken con- Nicaraguans will now forego further like 1 y be followed by the
cation of the youth and to uproot and trol of the internal secret police and aggression. Our experience in destabilization of Mexico and that
undermine and ultimately change have established a Directorate of Korea and Indochina provides some this could result in many millions of
the traditional elements of society. State. Security. That directorate, lessons on the value of agreements additional Mexicans fleeing into the
This meant undermining the influ- according to our reports, has 400 with communist governments. United States.
ence of religion and taking the Cubans, 70 Soviets, 40-50 East Ger- Korea started to violate the Korean 'Ibday, the Cuban and Nicaraguan
young away from their parents for man and 20-25 Bulgarian advisers. Armistice within days of the truce military forces are together four
education by the state. He was There are Soviet advisers at every signing. times the size of those of Mexico and
taught that to control the people he level of the secret police. In fact, it Under the 1973 Paris Accords, are equipped with vastly superior
would have to establish block com- is safe to say that it is controlled by North Vietnam agreed to cease fir- weapons. Today, with armed forces
mittees as a powerful secret police. the Soviet Union and its surrogates. ing in South Vietnam, withdraw its larger and better equipped than the
Finally, Abd'al Fatah spoke in impas- Block committees have been estab- forces from Cambodia and Laos, and rest
of Central America put
sioned terms of a need to export rev- lished to watch and control the peo- refrain from introducing additional together, Nicaragua could walk
olution to carry out his mission as a p 1 e . The church has been troops and war materiel into South through Costa Rica, which has no
dedicated Marxist-Leninist and to persecuted. Vietnam except on a one-for-one army, to Panama, and Cuba can
ensure that attention was focused on Witness the campaign mounted replacement basis. North Vietnam
neighboring countries thus divert- by the Directorate of State Security never observed the cease-fire and threaten our vital sea lanes in the
ing attentiofrom his own country' to harass and embarrass Pope John troop withdrawal requirements, and Caribbean.
and allowin it to consolidate its rev- Paul II during his 1983 visit to Nica-'within little more than two months The insurgency is a major obsta-
n
and ragua. They have used political cle to Sandinista consolidation i
olution. after it had signed the peace agree- that t it encourages the erosion sion of
Bob Ames said that as he looked mobs (similar to the Red Guards of ments it had already infiltrated active support for the heneo by
back, Abd'al Fatah - with Soviet Soviet and Chinese revolutionary some 30,000 additional troops and nu uncertaihiSs dbout tby
Bloc help - had done as he said he history) to attack democratic politi- over 30,000 tons of military acceareati of tuncert intby cabu the
cians, union members and religious equipment into South Vietnam.
would. He captured and subverted a its claims of political legitimacy:
leaders. And finally, just as Abd'al We believe the Sandinistas' main
legitimate war of liberation. He Fatah told Bob Ames what t he must must and by giving hope to the leaders of
killed or drove into exile those mem- do, and following Hitler and he Khrush- objectives in regional negotiations the political opposition.
bers of the movement who believed are to buy time to further consoli- itiondinista insur
in democracy and then went about chew, the Sandinistas have told the date the regime. History and the The group, largest the opposition. anti
FDN, id list incur
the work of consolidating a commu- world that they would spread the record and purposes of Marxist- gent .
nist regime and began armed sub- example of Nicaragua beyond El Sal- Leninist regimes in general and the ing strong military resistance
version against Oman and North vador to Honduras, Guatemala, and Sandinistas in particular lead us to despite cutoff of United States aic
Yemen. the entire region. believe that unless Nicaragua has almost a year ago. Popular sympathy In Ethiopia, to b(
integral part of this blueprint implemented a genuine democracy for . the
Angola, gharxist , An in the insurgents appears countryside, an(
and Grenada, dedicated Marxist- for subversive aggression is decep- ~ as required by the Organization of-increasing the FDN continues to receive signifi
Leninist revolutionaries followed tion and disinformation to manip- American States such assurances the
numbers u new recruits.
this Soviet blueprint with only slight ulate and influence public opinion could not be adequately verified and ca of modifications. and policies in western countries. would not be complied with. Cuban That opposition can increase the
Our analysts have studied this This takes many shapes and forms. officials have urged the Salvadoran pressure until the Sandinista sup
blueprint for taking over a govern- A worldwide propaganda cam- communist guerrillas to slow down port has eroded sufficiently to leav
ment and consolidating a totalitarian paign has been mounted and carried their attacks against the Duarte gov- them no option other than modifies
regime as it has been exemplified in out on behalf of the Sandinista ernment in order to fortify and con- tion of their rejection of internal rec
seven totalitarian regimes; six regime and Salvadoran guerrillas solidate the Nicaraguan revolution. onciliation. The objective is to alloy
Marxist-Leninist in Cuba, South which would not have been possible We believe that Cuba has assured the for the same process of democre
Yemen, Ethiopia, Angola, Grenada, without the capabilities, the con- Salvadoran communists that it tization that is taking place in th
Nicaragua, and the Islamic tacts, and the communication chan- might take as long as five to 10 years, rest of Central America to occur i
revolutionary government of Iran. nels provided by the Soviet bloc and but as long as the Sandinista regime Nicaragua.
They have identified 46 indicators of Cuba. The Sandinistas themselves in Nicaragua remains, that country
the consolidation of power by a have shown remarkable ingenuity I will serve as a base for communist
Marxist-Leninist regime. These and skill in projecting disinfor expansion in the area and the Salva-
will be renewed
itself
d St
t
i
U
a
es
n
te
. doran insurgency
indicators measure the movement mation into the
Pt-rhanq the best examDle of this is
once the Sandinistas have been able
IVW41U V11Ci/811y JSVVU JAZAA L, - -
trol of the military, of the security the systematic campaign to deceive
services, of the media, of education, well-intentioned members of the
of the economy, the forming or take- western media and of western reli-
over of labor or other mass organza- pious institutions.
tions, exerting social and population There are many examples of
control, curbing religious influence Nicaraguan deception. The Sandin-
and alignment with the Soviet bloc. ista press, radio and government
Of the 46 indicators, Nicaragua in ministry have put out claims that the
five and one-half years has accom- United States used chemical weap-
plished 33. They have established ons in Grenada, that the United
control of the media, taken over States was supplying Nicaraguan
radio and TV, censored the'freedom fighters with drugs, and
broadcasts of Sunday sermons of the that the United States might give the
Archbishop of Managua, and sub- I opposition bacteriological weapons.
jected the only free newspaper, La
Prensa, to a brutal daily censorship.
to eliminate the armed resistance.
What does this mean for
America's future? Should-Central
America fall under communist con-
trol, it could mean a tidal wave of
refugees into the U.S.
Every country that has fallen
under communist control since
World War II has sent refugees
streaming over the borders - first
Eastern Europe, then Cuba, and
more recently Vietnam and Afghan-
istan-and the potential influx from
Central America is even higher than
Gaye 3of3
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With help of Soviet capabilities, Over the last 10 years, Soviet aration to receive tnem. in uroan aerense system. L1115 gives the San-
dntacts and communications chan- power has been established: areas, food rations are distributed dinistas a military capability far
-lels, the Sandinistas have mounted a is In Vietnam, along China's bor- through party cells. beyond that of any other Central
worldwide propaganda campaign der and astride the sea lanes which In Nicaragua, the Communist American nation and indeed all Cen-
that shows "remarkable ingenuity bring Persian Gulf oil to Japan. government killed outright a mini- tral American nations put together
sad skill in projecting disinfor- ? In Afghanistan, S00 miles closer mum of 1,000 former Somoza In addition to the considerable
mation into the United States itself:' to the warm-water ports of the national guardsmen during the sum- military hardware, there are now an
he says. "Perhaps the best example Indian Ocean and to the Straits of mer of 1979. In 1982, it forcibly relo- estimated 6,000 to 7,500 Cuban
of this is the systematic campaign to ' Hormuz. Through which comes the sated some 15,000 Miskito Indians to advisers and several hundred other
deceive well-intentioned members oil essential to Western Europe. detention camps, forced malty more communists and radical personnel
of the Western media and of Western ? In the Horn of Africa, dominat. to flee to refugee camps in Hondu- in Nicaragua assisting the regime in
religious institutions" ing the southern approaches to the ras, and burned some 40 Indian vil- its military buildup and its consoli-
The CIA believes the Sandinistas' Red Sea and the southern tip of the lages. Last month, the Sandinistas lotion of power.
"main objectives in regional nego- Arabian Peninsula. forcibly moved 60,000 campesinos The Communist government
tiations are to buy time to further ? In Southern Africa. The source from areas close to the Honduran under Cuban direction and guidance
consolidate the regime:' Mr. Casey of minerals which we and other regions, burning their houses and has been essential in helping the
says. industrial nations must have. killing their cattle. regime establish control over the
Wh tisthe u se of all this car- media create
r
o
a
wars in Korea and Indochina are the United States. - -
persuasive evidence that agree- This is not a bloodless war.
ments with Marxist governments Marxist-Leninist policies and tac-
don't mean much. (tics have unleashed the four horses
"We believe that Cuba has assured of the apocalypse - Famine, Pes-
the Salvadoran Communists that it tilence, War and Death. Throughout
might take as long as five to 10 years,, the Third World we see famine in
but as long as the Sandinista regime. Africa, pestilence through chemical
in Nicaragua remains, that country and biological agents in Afghanistan
will serve as a base for Communist and Indochina, war on three conti-
expansion in the area and the Salva- nents, and death everywhere. Even
doran insurgency will be renewed as I speak, some 300,000 Soviet, Viet-
once the Sandinistas have been able namese, and Cuban troops are car-
to eliminate the armed resistance" rying out savage military operations
The major obstacle to Sandinista directed at wiping out national resis-
consolidation - and the establish- Lance in Afghanistan. Kampuchea.
ment of the Marxist base in Central Ethiopia. and several other coun-
America - is the Nicaraguan resis- tries
tance, he says. The resistance In the occupied countries -
"encourages the' erosion of active Afghanistan, Cambodia, Ethiopia,
support for the Sandinistas by creat- Angola, Nicaragua - in which
M
ing uncertainties about the future of imposed or regimes have maintained by been eitherexternal
the regime; by challenging its forces, there has occurred a holo-
claims of political legitimacy, and byl caust comparable to that which Nazi
giving hope to the leaders of the, Germany inflicted in Europe some
political opposition:' 40 years ago. Some four million
Afghans, more than one-quarter of
Following is the text of a speech the population, have had to flee their
prepared for delivery by CIA Direc- country. The Helsinki Watch tells us
' because "the
c
es
-- - -
- -
ness Council in Jan Antonio, ie~xas,
tomorrow. A copy of the speech was are combined with the worst the consolidation and the objectives
obtained by The Washington Times. excesses of unbridled state- of the Soviets and the Cubans and
sanctioned violence against civil- the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. If I
Today, I would like to tell you about ians" It cites evidence of "civilians were to boil the key judgments of
the subversive war which the Soviet burned alive, dynamited, beheaded; those estimates down to a single sen-
Union and its partners have been crushed by Soviet tanks; grenades tence it would be this: The Soviet
waging against the United States thrown into rooms where women Union and Cuba have established
and its interests around the world and children have been told to wait:' ; and are consolidating a beachhead
for a quarter of a century or more. In Cambodia, two to three million', on the American continent, are put-
This campaign of aggressive sub- people, something like one-quarter! ting hundreds of millions of dollars
version has nibbled away at friendly of the pre-war population, have been' worth of military equipment into it,
it as a
l
and have begun to use
governments and our vital interests killed in the most violent and bruta
already worked in Europe, Africa
until today our national security is manner by both internal and exter- launching pad to carry their style of Asia and Latin America.
the rest
t
i
o
n
impaired in our immediate neigh- nal Marxist forces. subversion
Let me now gyou an insight of
borhood as well as in Europe, Asia, In Ethiopia, a Marxist military of Central America and elsewhere in how all this now give i happens. you In early insight of
Africa and Latin America. government, supported with exten- Latin America. -
This is not an undeclared war. In sive military support from Moscow Let me review quickly what has I had a talk with Bob Ames, our CI!
1961, [Nikital Khrushchev, then and thousands of Cuban troops, by already happened in Nicaragua. The Middle East expert, who died at th
leader of the Soviet Union, told us collectivizing agriculture and keep- Sandinistas have developed the best hand of a terrorist attack in Beiru
that communism would win not ing food prices low in order to main- equipped military in the region. in 1983. Stationed in Aden, Sout
through nuclear war which could tain urban support, has exacerbated They have an active strength of Yemen, in 1967, he met an
destroy the world or conventional a famine which threatens the lives of some 65,000 and a fully mobilized befriended the young revolutionar
war which could quickly lead to millions of its citizens. It has strength including militia and Abd'al Fatah Ismail, who becam
These
food
000
i
120
l
.
ng
,
y
reserves of near
nuclear war, but through "wars of exploited the famine by us
national liberation" in Africa, Asia, as a weapon to forcibly relocate peo- forces are equipped with Soviet
and Latin America. We were reluc- ple fighting an oppressive govern- tanks, armored vehicles, state of the
tant to believe him then. Just as in ment in the north hundreds of miles art helicopters, patrol boats and an
the 1930s we were reluctant to take to the south where there is no prep- increasingly comprehensive air
Hitler seriously when he spelled out
in "Mein Kampf" how he would take
r ro e
r u
p
p
nage, this creeping imperialism? In mechanisms and neutralize the
my view, there are two primary tar- effectiveness of those who oppose
gets - the oil fields of the Middle the Sandinista totalitarianism.
East which are the lifeline of the Today, we see Nicaragua becom-
Western Alliance, and the Isthmus ing to Central and Latin America
between North and South America. what Beirut was to the Middle East
Afghanistan, South Yemen, Ethiopia, for almost 15 years since 1970 when
as well as Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam, Lebanon became the focal point for
and Mozambique and Angola in international and regional terror-
southern Africa, bring Soviet power ists. Managua's support for training
astride the sea lanes which carry of Central American subversives is
those resources to America, Europe well documented - they support
and Japan. , Salvadoran communists, Guatema-
Capabilities to threaten the I Ian communists, radical leftists in
Panama Canal in the short term and, Costa Rica, and are attempting to
Mexico in a somewhat longer term increase the number of radical left-
are being developed in Nicaragua ist terrorists in Honduras. More
where the Sandinista revolution is recent evidence indicates Nicara-
the first successful Castroite sei- guan support for some South
zure of power on the American main-American terrorist groups and
land. They have worked quietly and growing contacts with other interna-
steadily toward their objectives of I tional terrorist groups.
building the power of the state secu- Yet, just last week the American
t'ity apparatus, building the congress refused toapprove $14mil-
strongest armed forces in Central lion for people resisting communist
America, and becoming a center for domination of Nicaragua, on the
exporting subversion to Nicaragua's very day that a Sovet ship unloaded
neighbors. more than $14 million worth of heli-
The American intelligence com- copters, East German trucks, and
munity over recent months unan- other military cargo at Corinto, the
al port in Nicaragua.
rinci
p
imously concurred in four national p
(Daniel)
On the very next day
,
Ortega, the Nicaraguan communist
dictator, traveled to Moscow to ask
the Soviet Union to make $200 mil-
lion available to him to consolidate a
Leninist communist dictatorship
across a stretch of land which sep-
arates South America from North
America.
This development in our immedi-
ate neighborhood should not be
viewed in isolation but as a part of a
worldwide process which has
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