LETTER TO ROB SIMMONS FROM BURTON L. HUTCHINGS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91B00135R000701300065-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 27, 2008
• Sequence Number: 65
• Publication Date: March 8, 1983
• Content Type: LETTER

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ARTICLE APPEARED
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ES. Tracks'
Cuban Aid
To Grenada
In .81, Senate Unit,
Nixed CIA.Plan.
To. Destabilize Isle
.
By Patrick E. Tyler
'Washington Past Staff Writer
WASHINGTON POST
27 FEBRUARY 1983
assistant secretary of defense for inter-
American affairs. In a speech to Florida
Republicans, Sanchez disclosed .that the
Cubans had built a hatallion-sizaiiilitary
\ camp on Grenada that could supplement
air and naval facilities under construction
for possible military use.
Using harsh tones that have charac-
terized earlier statements on Grenada by
President Reagan and 'hi principal.
visers, Sanchez said the island had -be-
come a "virtual surrogate- of Cuba. He
said the camp "includes brirracks:. admin.
istration:buildings,.vehicleistorage sheds,
support buildings and *raining area
, with -a Soviet style obstacliCOursa":
Cubans advisers andlahorers are.also
building runways anCriott. facilities in
Grenada. "The Cubans are constructing
air and naval facilities theie- that far ex- -?
The Reagan administration, con- ?
ceed the - requirements.4ithat tiny
cerned that Cuba is developing bet;
land," Sanchez said.
ter way to extend its military influ-
A former CIA intelligence. officer in ?
ence in Central America, con_._.1s!,c,.le .red the region,Sanchez also saidSoviet intl
_.s,oy_ezt??itttelligange_z__o ration
ar,A,4410_444,34..gousmokent_of itarY exports to Cuba in 1982 -were a
L. record' -$1 :hillion .compared with $600
?.'ar.atinind is now closely : ,.., million in 1981.4deliveries. Shipments in- '
mopitOring new Cuban activitiecon I., eluded, "Turya" hydrofoil boats,
the tiny eastern Caribbean island: ..- ---::
Sancheilsaid, MI24 'Hind" heli-
The details of the operation are: '
",,... copters and :an: additional 'Squadron of '
not known beyond a general desciip:: -,,- supersonic ',MiG23 fighter aircraft :in' an '.
tion:. from knowledgeable sources ' .
.,- air force of (10 modern planes. :;.;.::-..? . '
summer Of 1981 t.o cause,,,elgrig15:: r.: ?Saiwhez's'Temarks -reflect the"..fruSire-..':
'
that the CIA developed plans in the: .
'L:"-tion itmonelnany consertratiV&irt -the,
dila ul ? or Grenada -in 1_19p104.6' f. .
'.administration-over the growing -Military
G n ern-lining the uli,tical control Of:strength of Cuba and its relatively un-.
1511?m:r Minister Maurice graTp7Ii. ?
,...... challenged :,support foOeftifit .:govern-
: these-sources said the operation 'was ,..ments .and :-insurgent I:- mOvemerits---. in .
scrubbed because the Senate Intel,;; -
ligence Committee opposed it -
One senior ?--Republican on the ,
committee said in an interview last
year. "Yes, there was an operation;
? and we all thought, unanimously-: I:
believe, that it. was just a small
land and -so the Cubans or the cork
munists control it, so what?"
The intelligence scrutiny oi
Grenada and rhetorical blast
against Bishop's government froni:
the Reagan administration represent
places -Such as GrenadEt:Nicaragui-and
' 'El?Salvador ' ' ? t
'But, while intelligence conierns over.
Grenada remain high, many Afficials in
, Congress and elsewhere belieir Reagan
? - and his policy advisers have consistently ;
z exaggerated the threat posed by the tour-
,
tat-dependent nation of 110,0(X) people
'During Alexander M. Haig Jt's tenure
as secretary of state, there was talk, of
"going to the source," meaning Cuba, to
.; stop the flow.of arms through Nicaragua
one side of a government debatc to guerrillas in El Salvador.-- .
In November, 198V:the National Se
overwhat, if any, danger exists kr: curity` Council authorized specific para
the United States or other Carib:-4 military:actions against:the. Cubint.pres- -
bean nations from Grenada's grow;: .s.,enee,.in.. the 'region. .."In. some .circum-
ing military ties with Cuba. -: I
stances, 'CIA might (possibly using-US
One of the strongest arguments; personnel) take unilateral paramilitary
that a threat exists was offerediast:
according tONSC minutes.
action against special Cuban thrgets"
week by Nestor D. Sanchez, ,dePut :
Contingency plans to blockade -arins
shipments from Cuban ports also were
studied in 1981. But such planning ap-
pears to have been shelved due to:. recog-
nition that this could lead to an enor-
? mous commitment of resources at a time
when Reagan and Secretary of Defense ,
Caspar. W. Weinberger are committed to '
an uninterrupted defense buildup to
match Soviet military expansion.
Sources said the aborted 1981 CIA
covert plan in Grenada included actions
to destabilize Bishop's government po-
litically. Gaining power after a 1979 coup,
helms' pursued a close alliance with Cn-
: ba's Fidel Castzo.-
CIA officials presented the covert ac-
, tioPlan to the Senate Intelligence Corn-
mittee in July, 1981. Because of what
: were .perceived as unusual and unspec-
ified' components, -it met strong opposi-
. Sources,Said: Lloyd Bentsen.(D-Tei.)
reacted to the: CIA presentation by ,say-
Wing, "You've got to be Commit-
!tee Chairrithn.BarrY .Goldwater (R-Ariz.)
-
reportedly suggested .that the -.CIA. offi-
cials proposal;iFi;
k-Seniar.COntinittee member T said the
PrciP6Sed- operation did not include any
plan- to overthrow Bishop. 'Weare out of
the:: business Of overthrowing ' govern
mentshetisaid:::"We' nireernisea little
?Mimic trouble;,;a- little publicity and
give aid, Ito opposition groups], but we"
on't overthrow governments?: ?
Another member of the committee
suggested that in using the word "desta-
? bilize" in reference to the remarks of the ,
- senior Republican member, "you should
go with the description that it was eco-
nomic destabilization affecting the polit-
ical Viability of the government? --
Covert
Covert operations'against' Grenada
.. were first discussed in the Carteradmin- .
istration aft'e'r .the new Bishop, govern-
' ment-simpOrted' the SOviet invasion of
' Afghanistan and 'openly solicited econom-
ic aidfrni.CUbli.:But atter reviewing op- *
i.:;tiOns, according to current: and former.
administration officials, President Carter
'? rejected all butpmpaganda measures.
- The strong rhetoric continued *into ?
1982. During his working vacation last
summer .in Barbados, Grenada's neigh-
bor, Reagan said, "El Salvador, isn't the
'only country that's being threatened With
Marxism? Grenada, Reagan continued,
--"hears the Soviet and Cuban- trademark,
which ,.means' it attempt to :spread
the virus among its neighbors? ?
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A Major concern of military and Intel- ..
ligence analysis has been the construc- ?
tion of an international airport with a
runway capable of servicing both jumbo
commercial jets and military fighters..
Cuba has supplied architectural services,
construction labor and heavy equipment. :
'officials believe that the
,Grenadans will allow Cuban military ? ?
...planes to use the airport Such an air
. base in the southeastern Caribbean
.; would give Soviet-built Cuban.. jets en- -
.hancecl refueling capabilities and improve. .
the flexibility of the Cuban air 'force.
?."The .Grenadan minister ..of . national
? mobilization,? Selwyn Strachan,. has
-.boasted 2ublicly that Cuba will even-
tually use 'the new airport in Grenada to
'
supply ? troops in Ai whose.: leftist....
gOvertinient Cuba ? has been supporting
since'1975, Sanchez said. ?
? Coupling this with Cuban and. Soviet.
stippOrt to the leftist government
Nic-
aragua, Sanchez spoke in the darken
.....terinObout the prospect for . a perma-..-?
.'nent$OViet presence in. Central. America.,
Soviets "could, literally place hos-...
? tile:forces and weapons. systems Capable.
.. Of striking targets deo in the, United ?
.
States on our borders and ?adjacent ws.
tars r,he said.*. ? ? ? - ?
. . .
? ? ANJetv.,rpilitaiy facilities "could: provide
air:and.milial bases for. the recovery
I of :Soviet ;phi-raft after 'strategic mis-
stons," he gals-
Sile*sites. for launching .attacks :against the .
United *States .8vith.shOrti..,1.14*iterrile-' ?
diato*rige.iniSsilee ? '
A spokesman for the ..Griniidan
mis-
si?n .in Washington was not available, to.; ..
.:.COmment,on Sanchres..iernarlcs.'.'; ? ? .!
? .-As-,,yet,:the.,.absence: of an acceptable
,alternative';46,Binfop,h8Si: hampered the
Reagan administratian'S ? efforts AO.- deal
.:with ;.Grenada. .The previous. regime ..of
Erie..Gairy Was noted . for harsh political
, repressionand.Gairy7s. personal.eCcentric,
Aceording to this official, a group of
expatriate Grenadans ? in the United
' States has solicited support in Washing-
ton to overthrow Bishop. This group
claims to have organized cells of oppo-
sition throughout the island, and the
group's leader was here a year ago trying
to arrange meetings with Haig and other
officials through ..former diplomats and
- academic officials.
Six months. after the Senate
Intelli-
gence Committee nixed the CIA's
r: Grenada plan, the members supported a
covert campaign against the Cuban-Ni-
caraguan arms supply line to Salvadoran
. insurgents.
A senior Republican on the committee
; said that the members had walked a del-
icate line trying to support the expanding i
operations of the CIA under Reagan and ' ?
his intelligence director, William J.
. Casey. But they also have weeded out
"harebrained" covert operations, as some
members have described them.
The senior member said that . on two
occasions, in 1981 and 1982, the commit-
tee scuttled proposed covert operations.
"Several ..times I've gone to the pres-
ident and said, 'Do you really need this?' i
and explained our problems and he [Rea-
- gar]] sits and listens. and aays,.,..7hank
you,' " this member said. :
'Other committee'members; take a ,
,..more skeptical line. . I
"If they were going to .dchsomething ;
? '[covert),", said one member, "I'm not sure .
they would ?tell;us.- I think- they would
wait until itwas' all over afld;thenCasey
would stop somewhere at a phone booth
? and call the conimittee."
? ?:
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