HONDURAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000100430002-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 13, 2007
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: November 2, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/03/14: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000100430002-6
RADIO N REPORTS, INC.
4701 WILLARD AVENUE, CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND 20815 656-4068
PUBLIC AFFAIRS STAFF
PROGRAM CBS Evening News STATION WDVM-TV
CBS Network
DATE November 2, 1982 6:45 P.M.
Baltimore, Md.
DAN RATHER: Much attention has been given to U.S.
efforts to overtly help the non-leftist regimes of Central
America. Among them, El Salvador and Honduras. Those efforts
include military and economic assistance. But there also are
covert efforts, as Bob Schakne reports.
ROBERT SCHAKNE: U.S. Government officials confirm that
the CIA has organized and is supporting a covert military
operation in Central America targeted against the left-wing
Sandinista government of Nicaragua. Officials, who ask not to be
identified, say the operation is based in neighboring Honduras,
that it involves small-scale paramilitary forces conducting raids
across the border designed to harass the Nicaraguan government.
The officials say the operation was approved by
President Reagan and is strongly supported by CIA Director
William Casey. On a day-to-day basis, it's being directed by
U.S. Ambassador to Honduras John Negroponte.
In public, State Department officials decline to confirm
or deny these reports.
The covert operation in Central America has drawn sharp
criticism on Capitol Hill among members of both House and Senate
Intelligence Committees. Among the most outspoken is Vermont
Senator Patrick Leahy.
SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY: I've told the President
[unintelligible] he makes a foreign policy mistake, if he wants
to subsitute covert activity for a good foreign policy. And I
think that they'd find this is a very attractive alternative to
the Soviet Union or to Cuba if we're open and above-board in
OFFICES IN: WASHINGTON D.C. ? NEW YORK ? LOS ANGELES ? CHICAGO ? DETROIT ? AND OTHER PRINCIPAL CITIES
Approved For Release 2007/03/14: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000100430002-6
 Approved For Release 2007/03/14: CIA-RDP88-01070R000100430002-6
doing it. If they feel that we're simply trying to subvert them
by clandestine activity, it's never going to work.
SCHAKNE: The goals of the Nicaraguan operation are
unclear. Officials familiar with it describe the operation as
small and limited, clearly capable of creating problems for the
Sandinistas, but not big enough to overthrow them.
Approved For Release 2007/03/14: CIA-RDP88-01070R000100430002-6