CENTRAL AMERICA/U.S. POLICY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000200820002-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 27, 2008
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: August 4, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2008/06/27: CIA-RDP88-01070R000200820002-6
ABC WOPLD NEWS TONIGHT
4 August 1983
CENTRAL AMERICA JENNINGS: Well, a lot of people have been asking questions, no
/U.S. POLICY just about the administration's policies in the region, but mor
directly. Just who is it that this country is backing, or in
some cases, trying to hurt? We asked ABC's Rick Inderfurth to
answer some of the ouestions.
INDERFURTH: In El Salvador, the military situation has improve
for government forces in recent weeks. They outnumber the
leftist guerrillas by more than three-to-one. And with the
recent adoption of more agressive small-unit tactics long urged
by American advisers, the Salvadoran army has gone on the
offensive, retaking significant amounts of territory lost to the
rebels. And U.S. officials confirm that the flow of arms to the
rebels to Nicaragua is down, in part because the Salvadoran and
Honduran navies have gotten better at policing the Gulf of
Fonseca, where gunrunners once operated with little
interference. In Nicaragua, the military situation is also
stable, but it's a leftist Sandinista government that's in
control. U.S officials say the 7,000 to 10,000. CIA-backed
counter-revolutionaries, many operating from I;a:ses inside
neighboring Honduras, have had some success in harassing the
Nicaraguan regime--blowing up bridges and destroying crops. But
American officials admit the insurgents have little chance at
the moment of overthrowing the Sandinistas, a regime backed up
by the largest army in the region, over 25,000 men, with another
50,000 reserves. All this s.uggests the fighting in Central
America is not about to slide into a broader regional w:ar. A
few weeks ago, however, there were U.S..intelligence reports,
some now discounted, saying the Soviets and Cubans were about to
expand their military support to the Nicaraguans. In response,
Presidnet Reagan raised the military ante in the region well
beyond normal trainirrg.levels: two aircraft carrier battle
groups and the battleship New Jersey. All told, 19 warships, 140
combat aircraft, and over 16.000 officers and men are being
dispatched to the waters off Nicaragua. Another 5,000 U.S.
military personnel, most of them combat troops, will take part
in joint ground exercises in Honduras. Despite this
muscle-flexing, Pentagon officials say the likelihood or need
for U.S. forces to get involved in actual fighting in Central
America is very low. However, there are circumstances where
that could change. The most dangerous case: if Soviet-built big
aircraft or Cuban fighting units are sent to Nicaragua. The
U.S. has warned Havana and Moscow that either move would
require, as one Pentagon official put it, appropriate action by
the U.S. Some officials have even suggested the possibility of
an airstrike to take out those.MiG fighters if they reach the
Sandinistas. Two other potential flashpoints: If the Cubans or
Nicaraguans dramatically increase their military assistance to
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the rebels fighting in El Salvador. it could provoke a U.S.
naval ouarantine of Kicaragua, something those carrier battle
groups will be practicing it the days ahead. And, what if the
Nicaraguans attack Honduras, attempting to knock out the
anti-Sandinista bases located there? Such an attack is
presently thought unlikely, given the superiority of the
Honduran air force and the apparent reluctance of the
Sandinistas, for political as well as military reasons, to go to
outright war against one of their neighbors. American forces
training in Honduras could conceivably be caught up in such a
conflict, but U.S officials say the very presence of American
combat troops in Honduras will serve as a deterrent. So, for
now at least, U.S. officials do not expect the Soviets or the
Cubans or the Nicaraguans to step across any of those lines.
But just in case, American military forces are being sent to the,
region to know better how to respond to those threats if they
occur. Rick lnoerfurth, ABC News, the Pentagon.
Approved For Release 2008/06/27: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000200820002-6