[I THINK IT IMPORTANT TO PUT IN CONTEXT THE PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS MANUAL WHICH WAS PREPARED IN THE PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS SECTION OF THE NICARAGUAN DEMOCRATIC FORCE (FDN) COMMAND IN]

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86B00269R001500230003-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 9, 2005
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: October 23, 1984
• Content Type: PAPER

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23 Oct 84
I think it important to put in context the psychological operations
manual which was prepared in the Psychological Operations Section of the
Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) command in Honduras in October 1983. In
the early stages, the FDN was working with non-United States military advisors.
In the late spring of 1983, these non-United States advisors produced the
draft of an urban insurgent manual. US advisors found that draft to be
totally unacceptable because it called for widespread use of indiscriminate
violence. US advisors urged that this manual never be used and all copies
were destroyed.
In the summer of 1983, it was decided that a code of conduct and training
in psychological operations were necessary to assure that FDN fighters going
into Nicaragua would be prepared to deal with villages they might enter and
the civilians there in a manner consistent with the FDN's democratic objectives.
The first step was to develop a code of conduct for FDN fighters. This
code, known as the blue book, was prepared and printed in pocket size and
each FDN fighter is expected to carry it with him in his shirt pocket. It
explains that the objective of the FDN is the development of a democratic
and pluralistic government in Nicaragua. It describes the need to achieve
a reconciliation of the Nicaraguan family, to establish social justice and
human rights in Nicaragua, to restore the freedoms violated by the Sandinistas,
and to achieve economic reform and greater social mobility. This booklet
(El Libro Blanco Y Aful) is the bible in which every FDN soldier is schooled
and which is taught in classes on political action and psychological operations
conducted for non-commissioned officers and the psychological operations
cadre of the FDN.
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To teach these classes, the Central Intelligence Agency contracted
with a retired military officer who had extensive experience in US Army
special operations and who had served as an instructor at the Army special
warfare school at Fort Bragg. The instructor proceeded to Honduras in late
August 1983, a training site was established, and classes were conducted
under the auspices of the Psychological Operations Section of the FDN
command.
The advisor translated into Spanish the special warfare lesson plans
which he had written and used while an instructor of the Fort Bragg special
warfare school and used these as the basis for instruction given to men
selected to serve as psychological operations officers when, in the conduct
of military operations, towns and villages in Nicaragua were visited or
occupied. The advisor would present an introductory lecture to the students
and the remainder of the classes would then be conducted by FDN instructors.
In late October 1983, FDN personnel involved in this program expressed a
desire to have the lesson plans converted into a handbook which could be
sent into Nicaragua to provide political guidance there.
The manual, entitled Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare,
was prepared from the notes used by the American advisor for his lectures
and printed in Honduras. It is a document which runs pages in English.
Media discussion and political dialogue about this document over the last
several days has focused on four brief passages. A portion of the document
containing these passages has been reprinted in The New York Times. As
Senators Nunn and Wallop stated yesterday, and as indicated on pages 69-71
of a copy of the manual in English, you will see that three of these four
passages were deleted by the FDN. The fourth of these passages which was
not removed has been stretched beyond both its intended and its literal
meaning.
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To understand the significance and intended meaning of those passages,
it is necessary to grasp the context in which they appear. The manual was
prepared by and addressed to people who had made the fateful decision to
engage in armed combat in order to resist oppression by a totalitarian regime,
a resistance which the Central Intelligence Agency has been authorized and
funded to assist by the President of the United States and the American
Congress. The purpose of this manual is that every combatant will be
"highly motivated to engage in propaganda face to face, to the same degree
that he is motivated to fight," and so that the "individual political awareness,
the reason for his struggle, must be as acute as his capacity to fight." It
aims to make every FDN guerrilla "persuasive in face to face communication--a
propagandist combatant--in his contact with the people; he must be capable
of giving 5 or 10 logical reasons why, for example, a peasant must give him
fabric, needle and thread to mend his clothes. When the guerrilla behaves
this way, enemy propaganda will never turn him into an enemy in the eyes of
the population." It goes on to deal with developing political awareness,
using group dynamics, interaction with the people, "live, eat and work with
the people," respect for human rights, teaching and civic action.
It then goes on with advice on dealing with the problems any fighting
force can face in handling local opposition when it visits or occupies a
community. It specifies that the "enemies of the people, the Sandinista
officials or agents, must not be mistreated in spite of their criminal actions
even though the guerrilla forces may have suffered casualties."
There is a section headed "guerrilla arms are the strength of the people
against an illegal government." This deals with protecting the guerrillas
and citizens when a town is occupied. There is also a section on the training
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and operations of armed propaganda teams, made up of six to ten members
charged with raising political consciousness within Nicaragua and personal
persuasion within the population. Again, the emphasis is on education,
avoiding combat if possible, "not turning the town into a battlefield."
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