VOA AGREEMENTS WITH COSTA RICA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86M00886R001200330028-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 28
• Publication Date: September 24, 1984
• Content Type: MEMO

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/16: CIA-RDP86M00886R001200330028-6
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/16: CIA-RDP86M00886R001200330028-6
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/16: CIA-RDP86M00886R001200330028-6
United States
Information
Agency
Executive Registry
CO 1FIDENTI ' 84- 9271
MEMORANDUM FOR: The Honorable September-24, 1984
William J. Casey
Director
Central Intelligence Agency
FROM: Charles Z. W
Director
USIA
SUBJECT: VOA Agreements with*Costa Rica
You will be pleased to know that an agreement signed on August
31 allows VOA to operate a medium-wave relay station in Costa
Rica which will reach as far as Managua, Nicaragua. The
agreement with the Costa Rican Association for Information and
Culture, a private entity, was worked out at the suggestion of
President Monge. A portion of the VOA payment to the
Association will support production of local programming to be
broadcast over the VOA transmitter on a shared-time basis. It
is an agreement that not only serves the needs of VOA but also
responds to Costa Rican concerns which President Monge twice
detailed in letters to President Reagan. The agreement is for
five years, but four renewal options given the VOA permit
extension to a total of twenty-five years.
This arrangement follows some two years of discussions. In
November, 1982, President Monge wrote to-President Reagan to
ask for help in constructing broadcast facilities in northern
Costa Rica which could compete with the-very strong signals
arriving from Nicaragua and so "return to Costa Rica the
control over its airwaves that has been undermined by the
unusual increase in the power and size of the Nicaraguan
government's broadcasting system."
President Monge's letter arrived as VOA was embarking upon a
worldwide modernization with particular emphasis on Central
America and the Caribbean. In March of 1983 President Reagan
answered.p-resident Monge's letter and proposed sending a survey
-team to Costa Rica to determine the country's needs. The team
went to San Jose in July and the current agreement is the
product of one year's additional effort.
The station will be operational at the end of this year or
early next year thanks to the loan of a DoD transportable 50 KW
temporary transmitter. Construction of the permanent 100 KW
transmitter (with an appropriate antenna) is expected to -take
from one to two years.
Classified by: CZ Wick
Office Symbol: D
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CONFIDENTIAL
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The Costa Rica agreement is unusual, even unique, in having
been made with an association of private citizens rather than
with the Government. This arrangement was recommended by
President Monge as a way to provide frequencies for use by a
foreign broadcaster (VOA) within the framework- of Costa Rican
law. At the signing ceremony at his residence on August 31,
President Monge thanked President Reagan for responding to the
Costa Rican request for assistance and said that the
arrangement permits Costa Rica to reclaim its "broadcasting
sovereignty." As for ourselves, we are delighted with this new
forward step in expanding the clarity. and reach of America's
message.
CONFIDENTIAL
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/16: CIA-RDP86M00886R001200330028-6