ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000200830008-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 27, 2008
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: August 17, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2008/06/27: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000200830008-9
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
17 August 1983
CENTRAL AMERICA JENNINGS: And now Central America. ABC News has learned that
/WEINBERGER Defense Secretary Weinberger will travel to El Salvador,
Honduras, and Panama during the first week of September, part of
an effort to underscore this country's increasing military
commitment to the region.
CENTRAL AMERICA JENNINGS: And along with that commitment, the White House said
/TROOP STRENGTH today that a small increase in the number of American military
personnel in El Salvador is under consideration. Well, the
figures on American military personnel in the region are quite
clear. But as ABC's Pentagon correspondent John McWethy reports,
here in Washington there is some confusion about just how many
people are on the other side.
MCWETHY: For months, the official U.S. government estimate of
how many Cubans are in Nicaragua has been 2,000 Cuban soldiers
and another 4,000 to 5,000 civilian advisers. Now sources tell
ABC News that the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency are
being pressured to raise those official estimates significantly
with pressure coming from Pentagon civilian leadership and the
White House. Intelligence sources say, in fact, there is
growing evidence to support a much higher number for Cuban
troops in Nicaragua, but the evidence as yet is still being
debated. One of the problems, sources say, is a greater effort
by Nicaragua to hide the Cuban presence. Intelligence sources
tell of newly arriving Cuban soldiers who are having their
uniforms stripped of any marking that could identify them as
Cuban. They are also being asked to shave the characteristic
Castro-like beards which are not commonly worn by Nicaraguan
soldiers. Two other worrisome pieces of intelligence about
Cuban influence. In Nicaragua, several major airfield
improvement projects paid for and built by the Cubans are now
finished. The jungle airfields stand empty, sources say, but
each has paved parking areas big enough to handle a dozen or
more planes. In Cuba there has been a step-up in activity at
pilot training centers where Nicaraguan pilots are learning to
fly Soviet-made MiGs. As yet, no MiGs have been sent to
Nicaragua. For President Reagan, new intelligence on Nicaragua
provides both political advantages and disadvantages. If, for
example, new estimates showed a doubling of Cuban troop strength
in Nicaragua, that would help justify all the U.S.
muscle-flexing in that part of the world. But it would also
create a real problem for the president, a problem of what to do
about it. John McWethy, ABC News, the Pentagon.
Approved For Release 2008/06/27: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000200830008-9