CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE HUMAN COST OF COMMUNISM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87M00539R001602450006-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: May 8, 1985
• Content Type: MEMO

STAT
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NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
wA/fMINaTON, O.G. lOfO~
May 8, 1985
CONFIDENTIAL
MEMORANDUI~1 FOR
Executive Secretary
Central intelligence Agency
Central America and the Human Cost of Communism ^ 25X1
SUBJECT:
Attached is an outline of the history of the human cost of
communism and how the pattern of these costs has been repeating
itself in Nicaragua. We request that you coordinate with the
Department of State in filling in the latest !acts and fiqur?s
(including, where appropriate, low and high estimates),
conforming to the headings (Sections IIA and IICI in the attached
outline as they refer to: 11 the hwllan costs cossnunissl has
i 1 existin !Marxist-Len n s a? -att~~the
human costs as ey have gun to ap ay thawsa es in
Nicaraqua.~~ .~
A draft should be ready for submission by COB, Friday, June T1. (U)
i ~NM~~
Robert M. immitt
Exseutive Secretary
ON-FILE NSC RELEASE INSTRUCTIONS APPLY
cca Mr. Nicholas Platt
Executive Secretary
Department of State
CONFIDENTIAL
ec ass~fy one OADR
~r,c ~~~
fIDf~VTIAL ~i~ ~~~ S~ ~~~.~~
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ThP Huron Coat of Caaaunism:
The Central Amer can z error sborical AErrspectivs
I . Hunan Suffer Caused Camnu~nisn -Statistics
. a
e? Aefugeea -- including forced exile
C. P~liticai Prisoners and Slave Ieboses's
D. Internal Aslocation
Zfie i of Lf fe tfider Oamnur-isin
. Bas c s
1. Destruction of the Conauner EoonaaYs Central Planning.
Ooll,ectivization, Food ltattioninq, Faiaine, etc?
2. Destruction of Msdiael Care t8ors+eity of Msdiaal 8upplirl
3. Destructirn of Housing Msricet
a. Deterioration of existing housing
b. No now oanstivction toa~ara Mith population gr+~+thl
~. Spirit:sal and Psychic Needs
a. lieligian
b. Culture
c. Historical and national heritage
C. Social and family life
Saec
-- Friendship (trust)
Huns~~ nights
1. I+b Consent of the Gcn~erned: Rulers Asstane Power by Ocnspiracy
and F+oz~oe
2. Nb Due Process: "iirvolutiaaa:y" J1:atiee an Class Seuis
3. No Freedom of Speech. etc.
~. Destruction and Subve~csiron of Aeligian
5. No Freedatt of Association; Destruction of all Islands of
Autonomy -- [fiians, Family, Etl~nie GYaa~s, Chsa~ches, Y~aternal
Organizations, Private Business, ebc.
6. No Freedom to Travel, Hnigrate
Internal Security System
1. Fornation of a Party Organization
2. Official Ideology: Sets Standard for Conformity and Deviatianism
3. Secret Police
4. Block Oanmittees: Systen of Infoxments
S. Official Terrorism and Harassment
6. Control over Eaonony: Credit, Psvduction and Distribatfon
7. Control over l~ducatianal Systan
8. Monopoly of Znforinntion and Ideaa: The Propsgarxla 7lpparatus
Literacy Campaicgt: Part of that Apparatus
9
,
10. The Military: Party and not National Away= Militarization of
Society
a. Instr~mtent of ooP..rci~on
b. Vehicle of political indoctrinat3,on
11. Reliance on Soviet and Soviet Ptoocy St~Qort - Military and
S~urity Police
12, Control v~?r Individual Life: Housir:q. Jab, Peavicxi, Ixitazttnl
Passports, Salary, 011 and Gas Quota
III. of Car~usism and Terrorism: Vehicle to Aehieae Legitiascy and to
ty/ iZ V~r'ivi "
IV. '!!1e Case of Niear t 1lfe of a Oass~ist ib t
t ?
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Frank talk about dangers .
Forces bound by a common thread
t is often unpleasant to resur-
rect what many think are the
unpleasant ghosts of the past.
Unfortunately, that is what we
do when we talk frankly about the
forces of "international commu-
nism" at work in our hemisphere.
It has long been politically the
safe thing to do to ridicule any men-
tion of this alleged phenomenon.
Professors and pundits have assured
us for years that "international com-
munism" as such no longer really
exists -which is why it is ridiculed
as a "phantom," the object of irratio-
nal phobias of extremists, know-
nothings, orpeople living in the past.
It has been explained to us that we
can no longer clinically and accu-
rately use this loaded expression
because of the Sino-Soviet split, the
Yugoslav-Soviet split, the Albanian-
Soviet split, and other manifesta-
tions of polycentrism.
Perhaps, indeed, communism is'
no longer a monolithic force sub-
suming all Marxist-Leninist states
under the Soviet banner. Neverthe-
less, how can one label the presence
today in Nicaragua of Cubans, Bul-
garians, Libyans, Czechs, North
Koreans,, East Germans, Vietnam-
John Lenczowski is director, Euro-
pean and Soviet affairs, at the
National Security Council.
~~
(~ J u ~~, P / `~ ,~ S
ese, Soviets, and Communist ele-
ments of the Palestine Liberation
Organization?
If this is not some facsimile of
international communism, then we
are at a loss as to how to explain the
common thread that binds these
forces together. If we must pay our
dues to the gods of polycentrism,
then perhaps we might refine our
terminology by calling this phenom-
enon "Soviet international commu-
nism;' since neither Maoist, Titoist,
or Albanian brands of communism
are at work here.
Since we so rarely discuss the
facts about international commu-.
nism as such, there are a few which
should be remembered in the con-
text of our current debate on Nica-
ragua:
? The people do not want
communism. Never in history has a
majority of a free electorate demo-
cratically chosen a Communist form
of government. (There is only one
exception: the minuscule state of
San Marino. In the case of Chile, Mr.
Allende, although a Marxist, did not
run for office as'a Communist with a
Communist Party in tow, or with an
avowedly Communist political pro-
gram. Neither did he win a majority
of the vote.)
? Communists have always come
to power through violent takeovers.
These takeovers have always
involved seizure of power by a well-
organized and externally assisted
minority over an unorganized and
unwitting majority. Such takeovers ,
.consistently entail the use of a "pop-
ular front" of Communist and non-
communist elements; the
establishment of a Communist Party
see LENCZOWSKI, page 2D
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i~1:~.~ tt,4V ~~ -7111
From page 1 D
which uses an ideological party line
to enforce internal conformity and
identify and eliminate deviationisis;
the use of camouflage to disguise the
party's true intentions and full politi-
cal program; the use of propaganda
and disinformation to manipulate
the international media; the use of
violent and ruthless methods to
eliminate all organized opposition,
including ethnic minorities, organ-
ized religion, non-government-
controlled media and the "class
enemy;" and finally, the use of grad-
ualism in the process of eliminating
opposition and implementing inter-
nal security - so that the people do
not realize what is happening to
them until it is too late.
? No Communist regime that has
consolidated its power has ever been
overthrown and replaced by a non-
communist order. (The only excep-
tion is Grenada). Every other form
of government offers people the
chance to retain a system of trial and
error. It is easy to overthrow a Shah
or a Somoza after trial has been
granted and error perceived. But
once communism is firmly in place,
the possibility of trial and error is no
more.
A vote against aid to the Freedom
Fighters is a vote to consign Nicara-
gua to an indefinite period of no free-
dom of choice.
? The human cost of communism
wildly exceeds most Americans'
expectations.
The numbers of people murdered
by Communist regimes (outside of
war deaths) are approximately: low
estimate, 60 million; high estimate
(more accurate in light of recent
scholarship), 150 million.
The greatest tide of refugees in
world history flows from Commu-
nist states to non-Communist ones:
today it comes from Ethiopia,
Afghanistan, Indochina, East
Europe, and Nicaragua. (During the
entire Vietnam War there was nary,
a refugee fleeing from Indochina. It
was not until communism tri-
umphed that life became so unbear-
able that people who could
withstand decades of war fled to the
seas).
Communism invented the concen-
tration camp. Millions have been
imprisoned, executed, or worked
and starved to death in these camps.
Communist regimes will not permit
enterprising Western reporters any-
where near these camps, so you
don't hear about them on the evening
news.
Communist regimes recognize no,
restraint on their absolute power.;
f..lsehoods as the standards of right
and wrong and the standards by
which deviationism is measured;
from this stems the systematic
denial of all individual human
rights.
The quality of life always deterio-
rates under communism: the milita-
rization of society; the destruction
of the consumer economy; the
rationing of food; the deterioration
of existing housing and insufficient
new construction to meet population
growth; the destruction of medical
care through lack of medicine and
medical supplies (despite all the pro-
paganda about free universal medi-
cal care in the U.S.S.R., for example,
a 900-bed hospital in Moscow gets an
allocation of 250 hypodermic nee-
dles peryear-a supply insufficient
for one day in a Western hospital -
with instructions on how to
straighten them, clean them and de-
rust them); the destruction of reli-
gion (in Russia in 1914 there were
77,000 Orthodox churches, whereas
today in the entire U.S.S.R. there are
only some 7,000); the destruction
and political control of education
and culture; the rewriting of history,
and the destruction of monuments to
the national heritage; and the
assault on family life and parental
jurisdiction over children.
? Soviet-style communism invari-
ably means the export of terrorism,
violence, and revolution to other
countries. Soviet proxy states par-
ticipate in an efficient division of
labor in this sphere: Cubans as
troops, Bulgarians and Vietnamese
as arms suppliers, East Germans as
secret police trainers and military
advisers, etc.
Since it is Soviet and not Albanian
proxies who are present on our con-
tinent today, it is not an accident that
the Communist Sandinista regime is
an active collaborator in this divi-
sion of labor.
? The Sandinistas are Commu-
nists. As Defense Minister Ortega
said: "Marxism-Leninism is the sci-
entific doctrine that guides our rev-
olution ... without Sandinismo we
cannot be Marxist-Leninist and San-
dinismo without Marxism-Leninism
cannot be revolutionary."
The identical pattern of Commu-
nist takeover methods, internal poli-
ci `, and external behavior is
can be no doubt, given the vast evi-
dence we have accumulated, that
Nicaragua is becoming another
Cuba.
? Communist regimes, including
the Nicaragua regime, spend vast
resources on disinformation - to
deceive the international media and
foreign political decision-makers.
A principal goal is to disseminate
false information about the nature of
their own system: the principal dis-
informationtheme ofall Communist
regimes is to convince others that
they are not really Communist.
This is done in many ways by the
Sandinistas but most prominently
by the "guided tour." Countless
American visitors are taken on this
guided tour and see nice things and
talk to "average citizens" who tell
them what the regime wants them to
hear.
Nobody wants to believe that he
has been or can be fooled. But if Con-
gress is to believe the testimony of
constituents and reporters who base
their information on the "guided
tour;' Congress may as well believe
everything they are told on the iden-
tical guided tours in Moscow,
Havana, East Germany, North Korea
or any other totalitarian state.
Congress must decide whether it
will resist international communism
on our continent or let it prosper.
Isolationists in the Congress may
base their opposition to the adminis-
tration on the principle that other
countries should be allowed self-
determination.
Unfortunately, in Nicaragua today
there can be no self-determination,
because of the reality of "foreign-
force determination." The foreign
force is the Soviet Union and its
proxies, otherwise known as the
forces of international communism.
Will the Nicaraguan people be
given enough assistance so that they
will be able to determine their future
on the basis of a balance of foreign
forces, or will Congress permit an
imbalance, an imbalance against
democracy, an imbalance against
any system of trial and error?
! If Congress chooses to deny the
Nicaraguan friends of democracy a
chance for self-determination, it will
be voting in favor of the first victory
of the Soviet strategic offensive on
our own continent.
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T
Central Intelligence Agencv
23 Aus~ust 1985
MFMORANDTJM FOR: David E. Randolph
_ Office of Public Diplomacy for
Latin America and Caribbean, S/LPD
Department of State
SURJE'CT: Central America and the Human Cost of Communism
REFERENCE: NSC ES Memo of 8 May 1985, same subject
1. Reference memorandum sought our input on "The Human
Costs of Communism: The Central American Experience in
Historical Perspective."
?_. F'e have provided you suc?~ information we have on
Central America, and especially the Nicaraguan aspect. Regarding
the broader question of the human costs in all Marxist-Leninist
states, we h ave combed our intelligence files and I enclose
conies of these reports that my have some relevance. This
particular topic has not been the object of substantial tarsretted
intelligence research. There may be some material available in
the open literature, and an external contract with an academic
specialist might well be a substantially more fruitflul avenue to
pursue if additional information is required.
~. I regret we could not be mcre helpful in this, and if
there are some specific intelligence questions for which we can
provide support, please let me know.
Executive Assistant to the DDI
Attachments:
CIA Reports
R~'GRADR AS CONFIDENTIAL ratlr~?
~FPARATEn FROM TCS A.'?'TACT?ti?E^iT.
_ CL 8Y SANER
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SUBJECT: Central America and the Human Cost of Communism
Distribution:
Original - Addressee (w/att)
1 - ExSec (w/o att)
1 - DDI Action File (w/o att)
1 - DDI Registry (ca/o att)
(23AUG85)
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