U.S. 'REASONING' ON NICARAGUA CRITICIZED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP09-00997R000100300003-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 16, 2013
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: November 17, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/07/16 CIA-RDP09-00997R000100300003-3
III. 20 Nov 84 USSR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN
U.S. DECISION TO MINE NICARAGUAN PORTS RECALLED
LD191649 Moscow tSS in English 1614 GMT 19 Nov 84
['Washington's Cou e of Intervention" TASS headline]
[Text] Moscow Novem er 19 TASS TASS commentator Ruslan Knyazev writes:
K
Next Wednesday it will be a year since the President of the United States signed a
directive allowing the se of CIA funds for the mining of the approaches to Nicaraguan
ports. The White House as thus officially sanctioned the United States' violation 'ffl:
of the fundamental princ les of international law, specifically the freedom of navi-
gation. The United State as a result, caught a new indelible stain of disgrace,
as Senator Edward Kennedy aid.
Over the time that has passe\1 since the "piracy directive" of the head of the U.S
state, the Washington admini tration aggravated the situation in Central America
still more. It is now clear o the whole world that the White House set the course
at outright military interference in the affairs of the region, at a large-scale
military intervention to overthow the lawful government of Nicaragua and restore in
that country's a regime that woil d suit Washington.
In the framework of that adventur stic policy the United States has been escalating
hostile actions against Nicargua. This refers not only to the piratic action, the
mining of the approaches to Nicara an ports, but also to systematic intrusions
of U.S. mercenaries -- Somozamen to Nicaraguan territory, acts of subversion
against Nicaragua's economic facilities. The Pentagon is concentrating large forces
in neighbouring Honduras. Dozens of U.S. warships have been sent to the Nicaraguan
coasts.
Meanwhile Washington diplomacy has frustrated the signing of the "Peace Act" in Central
America prepared by the Contadora Group.\Bilateral U.S.-Nicaraguan talks in Mexico
have not yet achieved any positive result because of the United States obstructionist
policy.
The threat of the United States outright military intervention against Nicaragua
heightened in the recent weeks. After the fa"lure of the attempts to disrupt or
discredit the general elections in Nicaragua, Washington provoked a new crisis by
spreading lies about purchases of Soviet-made rplanes by the Nicaraguans. According
to Nicaragua's Foreign Minister Miguel D'Escoto, the anti-Nicaraguan campaign of the
Reagan administration is aimed at affecting Amer ans by the hysteria whipped up by
the official circles and thus facilitating the un eashing of an aggression against
Nicaragua.
In this situation the Nicaraguan Government has beee compelled to take additional
measures to strengthen the country's defence potentia , to put all its armed forces
on a high alert. Rallied around its Sandinist govern nt the Nicaraguan people is
prepared to wage the struggle for the motherland's fre om and independence.
U.S. 'REASONING' ON NICARAGUA CRITICIZED
LD180321 Moscow Television Service in Russian 1800 GMT 17 Nov 84
[From the Vremya newscast -- commentary by Genrikh Borovik]
[Text] Hello, comrades! In the mornings as the sun rises, American reconnaissance
planes fly over Managua.
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Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/07/16 CIA-RDP09-00997R000100300003-3
Ia. 20 Nov 84
K 2 USSR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN
TheY fly very low over the city breaking the sound barrier. The boom is deafening and
resembles the explosion of a gigantic bomb. This is how they are trying to wreck
people's nerves. Armed bands, trained in special camps in Florida, California, and
iionduras blow up bridges, oil tanks, and electric power stations, set fire to cotton and
coffee, and kill people. They are assisted by American Air Force planes armed with
zissiles. At night, gigantic Hercules aircraft take off from aerodromes at U.S. Air
rorce bases in the Panama Canal Zone and set course for the Nicaraguan region. Incessant
r;aneuvers of American and Honduran troops are being carried out along the country's
border in the north. Hundreds of American servicemen from the 82d Airborne Division
have been transferred there. American war ships cruise along Nicaragua's shores. In
short, shameless preparations are under way for an invasion. These have been going on
for a long time, but this is the first time they have been on such a gigantic scale.
About 2 years ago, I had occasion to talk to the American ambassador to Nicaragua in
xanagua. I asked him what right the United States has to terrorize a peaceful sovereign
country. The ambassador replied: They live in the wrong way, undemocratically; they
have no free elections. I was astounded not by the cynicism of this position, but by the
level of argument. Washington knows that on 4 November this year, free elections were
held in Nicaragua for the first time in the country's history. The Sandinists won a
convincing victory. A farce, Washington answers. If the Sandinists had lost, however,
the elections would have been right. And these are not empty words. You remember what
happened after the elections in Chile that Salvador Allende won.
Vashington is told: It is not true that Nicaragua constitutes a threat for the United
States. The reply comes: Nicaragua is closer to the state of Texas than Texas is to
'.:ashington. They are told: It is a lie that the USSR is supplying military aircraft to
Nicaragua; you invented this in order to instill fear in Americans. Even your own
:ilitary men are laughing. But from Washington they regard the world through a televi-
sion screen and lay down the law: Measures must be taken to ensure secret information
:oes not get into the papers prematurely. They are told: Any one of those ships of
Tours blockading the Nicaraguan coast has a greater water displacement than the entire
so-called Nicaraguan Navy and has a crew larger than the whole of the Nicaraguan fleet.
ashington, however, replies: Nicaragua will never compel the United States to turn
aside from the path of democratic development. This is not even an exchange of argu-
:ents; it is simply a conviction that there exists in the world no other arbiter save
:he force of arms, and this cannot be accommodated with such human concepts as truth,
conscience, or even simple human reason.
I have been to Nicaragua many times. I love this people, they are
Ind handsome people. Revolution in general makes people handsome.
to the United States, and they have always been described as being
:a this backyard, 70 percent of the population was illiterate, and
:uatemala, and El Salvador the same still applies. It was hard to
brave, good, candid,
They live very close
in the "backyard."
in Honduras,
find any old people
:n this backyard, not because the Nicaraguans look young but because their average life
expectancy was 51. Just think, 51! And that is at the end of the 20th century. There
vere no doctors, hospitals, or medical services for the population, and the young folk
*re killed by the dictator Somoza, who sensed in each of them his enemy. Mothers hung
ioulets like these around their children's necks [video shows photograph of child with
:artridge hanging round its neck] -- a cartridge from an automatic rifle, believing that
:ois was the very bullet destined for her son by fate, and thus it would not strike him.
narinqcifiRd and Approved For Release 2013/07/16 CIA-RDP09-00997R000100300003-3
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/07/16: CIA-RDP09-00997R000100300003-3
III. 20 Nov 84
K 3 USSR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN
They have been victorious. They have rid themselves of illiteracy. There are now doc-
tors in their country. They have only just begun to breathe the air of freedom. Now -
mothers have once again begun to hang amulets around their children's necks, cartridges
from American automatic rifles. Can one reconcile oneslef to this in a civilized societ
as the 20th century of our era draws to its close?
NICARAGUAN FOREIGN MINISTRY PROTESTS REBEL RAID
LD171202 Moscow TASS in English 1132 GMT
7 Nov 84
[Text] Managua November 17 TASS -- TASS dorrespondents Sergey Gorbunov and Aleksandr
Trushin report:
Nicaragua's Foreign Ministry sent a note 4 protest to U.S. Secretary of State George
Shultz over a raid of U.S. mercenaries on he state-owned coffee enterprise "Sorpresa"
23 people, including women and children, were killed. A vast material damage was in-
flicted. It is also pointed out in the n4e that another group of counterrevolutionaries
opened fire from mortars, machineguns, and!grenade launchers at "Ernesto Acuna" coopera-
tive\ in Matagalpa Department, killing four innocent people.
i
The note says these barbarous actions are a consequence of the policy of state terrorism
I
implemented by the Reagan administration. ;Thousands of Nicaraguan citizens have already
i
become victim to this policy. The new crimps of the Somoza counterrevolutionaries are
a disgraceful example of their application C,3,f the "knowledge" acquired from a special
"manual" on terrorism that was worked out by the CIA, says the document of the Nicaragua:
Foreign Ministry.
\
EIGHTH ROUND OF NICARAGUAN-U.S. TALKS OPEN 19 NOV
LDI91823 Moscow TASS in English 1314 GMT 19
ov 84
[Text] Managua November 19 TASS TASS corespondent Aleksandr Trushin reports:
Despite sharp escalation of aggressive action of the Reagan administration and prepara-
tions for direct intervention in Nicaragua, Ole government of the Republic agreed to
hold the next, eighth round of negotiations with the United States, which opens in
Manzanillo, Mexico, today.
So far, Nicaraguan-American negotiations did not lead to any positive results because
of the U.S. obstructionist stand. The Washingion administration uses the negotiations
as a screen for covering up its military preparations aimed at destruction of the
Sandinist people's revolution. Those preparations are accompanied with an unbridled
anti-Nicaraguan 'campaign, the aim of which is to present Nicaragua as some "source of
tension" in the region.
Member of the national leadership of the Sandin st National Liberation Front Victor
Tirado, speaking at a meeting of leaders of trade union and other mass public organiza-
tions, emphasized that all peace initiatives of Nicaragua are thwarted by the American
Administration which makes stake on military solution of the Central American crisis.
The United States, specifically, frustrates the s'igning of the "Peace Act" of the
"Contadora Group", torpedoes progress at Nicaragu n-American negotiations.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/07/16: CIA-RDP09-00997R000100300003-3