STATEMENTS BY NICARAGUAN LEADERS ON SUPPORT FOR INSURGENCY IN CENTRAL AMERICA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84B00049R000701990027-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 18, 2006
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: March 9, 1982
• Content Type: MEMO

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For Official Use Only
FBIS
FOREIGN BROADCAST
INFORMATION SERVICE
Special Memorandum
STATEMENTS BY NICARAGUAN LEADERS
ON SUPPORT FOR INSURGENCY IN CFMRAL AMERICA
For Official Use Only
9 MARCH 1982
D
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This report is based exclusively on material carried in
foreign broadcast and press media. It is published by FBIS without
coordination with other U.S. Government components.
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9 MARCH 1982
STATEMENTS BY NICARAGUAN LEADERS
ON SUPPORT FOR INSURGENCY IN CENTRAL AMERICA
The key leaders of the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front
in Nicaragua (FSLN) have been careful from the outset to formulate
public statements of support for insurgencies in the region in
such a way as to avoid suggesting present or future Nicaraguan
material aid. The standard line is that because Nicaragua received
foreign support in its struggle against the Somoza regime, it is
"dutybound" to show "solidarity" with kindred "national liberation
struggles." There is consistent emphasis on the moral and politi-
cal nature of Nicaraguan support.
The Nicaraguan leaders address the issue of material aid only to
deny that they are providing any to the Salvadoran insurgents--
normally in the context of propaganda broadsides against U.S.
policies. The leaders are on record, seconded by routine media
propaganda, with repeated denials of U.S. charges that Nicaragua
has furnished the Salvadoran rebels with arms or permitted them
to use Nicaraguan territory for military training.
Specific discussions of aid--professions of moral support or denials
of material aid--address only the Salvadoran insurgency. So far, at
least, the Nicaraguan leaders' infrequent public references to the
Guatemalan insurgency have gone no further than to pledge "soli-
darity" with the rebels and to hold up the Sandinista revolution in
Nicaragua as a model for Guatemala and other Latin American
countries.
The issue of Nicaraguan support for the Salvadoran insurgents is
most frequently and most authoritatively addressed in the media by
Junta Coordinator Daniel Ortega, Interior Minister Tomas Borge,
and Daniel Ortega's brother, Defense Minister Humberto Ortega. Of
108 discussions of the Salvadoran insurgency by these three
leaders in speeches monitored by FBIS since November 1979, 35
refer to support for the Salvadoran revolutionary movement--25 by
Borge, eight by Daniel Ortega, and two by his brother. Borge has
given frequent interviews to foreign publications. While most of
the other six FSLN commanders have occasionally commented on the
subject, they have invariably followed the standard line. Edi-
torial comment in Nicaraguan media does not go beyond that line.
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9 MARCH 1982
Representative statements by the three key leaders are reproduced
on the following pages in reverse chronological order, covering
the period November 1979 through February 1982. The most recent
statement, by Tomas Borge on 21 February, pledges Nicaraguan
"solidarity" with the insurgencies in both El Salvador and
Guatemala but makes no reference to aid or support.
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FBIS SPECIAL MEMORANDUM
9 MARCH 1982
STATEMENTS BY NICARAGUAN LEADERS
ON SUPPORT FOR INSURGENCY IN CENTRAL AMERICA
Interior Minister Tomas Borge at the closing session of the Fifth
Permanent Conference of Latin American Political Parties (Managua
domestic service, 21 February 1982)
How can a patriot be indifferent to the fate of his Latin
American brothers? . . . How can we keep our arms folded'in
the face of the crimes that are being committed in El Salvador
and Guatemala? How can one be decent, simply decent, in this
continent without showing solidarity for the efforts of these
heroic people? . . . From the wounds of only one of the Latin
American peoples flows the blood of all Latin America. This
explains once again why we Sandinistas show solidarity with
all peoples who are fighting for their liberation. If we are
accused of expressing solidarity, if we are forced to sit in
the dock because of this, we say: We have shown our soli-
darity with. all Latin American peoples in the past, we are
doing so at present and will continue to do so in the future.
Borge in a message to the continental conference for peace, human
rights, and self-determination of El Salvador (Radio Sandino,
21 January 1982)
The struggle of the Salvadoran people is the struggle of all
honest men and women of the continent. . . . This is the
struggle of all those who feel dutybound to support a brave
David facing a criminal and arrogant Goliath, it is the con-
tinuation of the struggle of Sandino, Farabundo Marti, Che
Guevara, and Salvador Allende.
Borge interview in the Budapest newspaper MAGYAR HIRLAP,
28 August 1981
We are undoubtedly in solidarity with the revolutionary
movement in El Salvador. . . . We do, of course, support
the patriots of El Salvador in their struggle, but our
support is only of a political and moral nature.
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9 MARCH 1982
Borge in a speech marking the second anniversary of Nicaraguan
revolution (Managua domestic service, 19 July 1981)
This revolution goes beyond our borders. Our revolution
was always internationalist. . . . This does not mean that
we export our revolution. It is sufficient--and we cannot
avoid this--that they take our example, the example of
gallantry, courage, and. determination of our people.
Borge interview in the Caracas magazine BOHEMIA, 20-26 April 1981
(Question] The U.S. Government insists that Nicaragua has
become a bridgehead for the shipment of weapons to El
Salvador by the Cubans and Soviets.
[Answer] They say that we are sending weapons to El Salvador
but they have not offered any real proof. But let us suppose
that weapons have reached El Salvador from here. This is
possible. More than that, it is possible that Nicaraguan
combatants have gone to El Salvador, but this cannot be
blamed on any decision of ours. Our solidarity with that
country and that people are part of the consolidation of
our revolutionary process.
Borge press conference in Santo Domingo (Madrid news agency EFE,
25 March 1981) -
We have helped the Salvadorans, but that aid has consisted
in our example, for we defeated a bloody tyranny and proved
that it is no longer a myth to defeat the strong who are in
power. That is why we believe that our victory against the
Somoza dictatorship is our aid to El Salvador.
Defense Minister Humberto Ortega at the first international meeting
of solidarity with Nicaragua (Managua domestic service, 31 January 1981)
We stand accused of being in solidarity with the just struggle
of the Salvadoran people, and we are accused of intervening
in El Salvador, of arming the Salvadoran people. What happens
is that our enemy does not realize that when they decide to
struggle, people find arms anywhere and turn everything into a
weapon, just as the Nicaraguan people did when they turned
paving stones into weapons, turned into weapons their will to
die until they were victorious.
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9 MARCH 1982
Junta Coordinator Daniel Ortega at a ceremony of brotherhood between
Nicaragua and Mexico (Managua domestic service, 17 January 1981)
We have never concealed anything, either before or after the
victory of the Nicaraguan revolution. We said it on 19 July
[the anniversary of the 1979 Sandinista revolution] before
U.S. representatives, and we have also told U.S. representa-
tives on every occasion: We are sympathetic toward the
Salvadoran people's struggle. We have voiced our solidarity
with the Salvadoran people's cause. And that is a right won
by the Nicaraguan people on 19 July: the right to decide
our foreign policy, the right to make our own decisions on
our foreign policy without anybody telling us what to do.
Borge at a ceremony to promote several Interior Ministry, officials
(Radio Sandino, 27 December 1980)
Those who say that the Salvadoran revolution is being promoted
from other countries are deliberately lying. For example,
although we support the Salvadoran people, we have not inter-
fered in their internal affairs. . . . On the contrary, our
position is that the Salvadorans should be permitted to
resolve their own dramatic national situation without inter-
ference from anyone. . . . El Salvador's struggle is the last
battlecry of a continent that has fought throughout the
centuries for its liberation. . . . Therefore, our solidarity
with El Salvador is not merely a matter of principle. . . .
We are morally and politically on the side of the Salvadoran
people, although this displeases many, and with inter-
nationalist enthusiasm we will continue to be on their side.
Borge interview in the Moscow weekly ZA RUBEZHOM, 19 July 1980
We are not exporting revolution. We are building a new
Nicaragua. . . . If our example inspires the peoples of
neighboring countries groaning beneath the yoke of military
dictatorships, we will be glad. That was what Augusto
Sandino dreamed of.
Borge interview in the West German DER SPIEGEL, 18 February 1980
[Question] Revolutionaries from other countries, such as
El Salvador and Guatemala, participated in the war in
Nicaragua. Are these now being supported by you in their
struggle against their own regimes?
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9 MARCH 1982
[Borge] Well, they are supported by our example. What we
cannot give them, however, is arms and training camps. . . .
We are as a matter of principle opposed to the export of
revolution. We are trying to consolidate ours, and that
will be stimulus enough for the struggle of the peoples of
Latin America.
Borge at a ceremony in Havana marking the 21st anniversary of
the Cuban revolution (Panamanian news agency ACAN, 4 January 1980)
Nicaragua must express its solidarity with the other Latin
American peoples struggling against or defeating imperialism
or trying to shake off the yoke of foreign masters. . . .
That is what we must learn from our Cuban brothers, who,
despite their limitations and their poverty, have been
generous with our people. Tomorrow, if necessary, we may
have to take the food out of our mouths to express soli-
darity with other Latin American brothers with the same
affection, firmness, and solidarity that the Cubans have
shown.
Bore at a seminar on Nicaraguan foreign policy (ACAN,
17 November 1979)
The Nicaraguan revolution is being blamed for what is
occurring in the internal politics of other countries, as
if we were to blame for the repression of the people, the
backwardness and poverty that affect the large majority
of the people in Latin America. To support the struggle
for the liberation of other peoples is not the same as
sending rifles to other countries. That would be an error,
a provocation, because revolutions are born of the people.
Revolutionaries will always find ways to get rifles.
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HPSCI - 9 December 1981
SSCI -10 December 1981.
Talking Points - Central America