NICARAGUA/U.S.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000200890002-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 26, 2008
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: October 6, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2008/06/26: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000200890002-9
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
6 October 1983
NICARAGUA/U.S. PALMER: Good evening. Tom Brokaw continues in China. In the
news tonight, the CIA's secret war in Central America became a
little less secret today. Intelligence sources in Washington
say the CIA has provided anti-Sandinista rebels with planes used
in bombing raids inside Nicaragua, and Nicaraguan government
troops say they fired a Soviet-made heat-seeking missile to
shoot down a cargo plane delivering supplies to the rebels.
Nicaragua claims that plane was on a CIA-sponsored mission.
More on this from Bonnie Anderson reporting tonight from
Nicaragua.
ANDERSON: The DC-3 cargo plane crashed in a remote mountainous
region 90 miles northeast of Managua. Counter-revolutionaries
based in Honduras say mechanical problems forced it down, but
the Sandinistas. claim the U.S.-registered plane was shot down by
anti-aircraft artillery as it dropped supplies to rebels. They
say four tons of food, medicine, and ammunition were recovered.
The Sandinistas say this plane took off from a Honduran airstrip
recently upgraded with the help of U.S. money. -Further proof,
they say, of American support for the counter-revolutionaries.
One by one, the three crewmen captured after the crash were
presented to reporters under the watchful eyes of Sandinista
officers. They claim they were trained and financed by the CIA.
One crewman even identified by name people he says are CIA
agents in Honduras; a Colonel *Raymond, a man named Mark, a Mr.
West, a Miss Kimberly. This incident comes less than a month
after a twin-engine plane bombed the airport in Managua and then
crashed into the tower,.killing the two pilots. The Sandinistas
immediately blamed the airport attack on the CIA but offered no
proof. However, reports out of Washington now say the light
plane was one of several provided to the counter-revolutionaries
by the CIA. While the Reagan administration's so-called covert
war has been no secret for months, events like these are raising
further questions about the scope of U.S.-sponsored activities
against the Sandinista government. Bonnie Anderson, NBC News,
Los Cedros, Nicaragua.
PALMER: For months it's been an open secret that the CIA has
been spending millions of dollars to aid rebels opposed to the
Sandinista government in Nicaragua, but now there are reports
from Nicaragua that despite all that money and advice, the
rebels aren't doing very well, as Fred Francis reports tonight
in this Nightly News Backgrounder.
NICARAGUA/U.S. FRANCIS: Victorious Nicaraguan troops in Ocotal in the northern
mountains. Last week they beat back the CIA's rebel army in the
first major battle in five months. After two years and $40
million, diplomats say the CIA's war has so far been a disaster.
These two rebel commanders, fatigued and demoralized, told of
the defeat at Ocotal--of running out of ammunition, about supply
lines breaking down. They said the ammunition and the rifles
exist. 'I don't know if there was something wrong with supply
planes or if the gringos are holding back help; like maybe they
want to do another Bay of Pigs.' Ocotal was a bitter
CONTINUED
Approved For Release 2008/06/26: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000200890002-9
 Approved For Release 2008/06/26: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000200890002-9
a.
disappointment after a summer of reorganization. NBC News has
learned that four months ago the CIA rebel army teetered on the
edge of collapse largely because of this man, *Pedro Pablo
Ortese, known as Commandante Suicide. All CIA guns and
ammunition were cut off. Almost the entire CIA-trained army,
6,000 men, was ordered to fall back into Honduras because of
Ortese. He controlled a third of the rebel army, and he was out
of control. He became a rogue elephant who refused to follow
orders. He was finally trapped in the mountains of Nicaragua by
other rebel commanders. He has been in prison and his men
reassigned. In Honduras yesterday, Adolpho *Coletto, the most
powerful rebel. leader, confirmed that Ortese is being held.
COLETTO: We wanted to make sure that we run a disciplined army
even if it's a volunteer army. We cannot afford to have people
going on their own.
FRANCIS: The renegades had.been confined to this camp near *Los
Troyes, Honduras, 500 yards from the Nicaraguan border. They
wait in a rain forest for rebel politicians and the CIA to
decide their fate. They are disillusioned and bitter. They
have been ordered to get in step or they are finished. They
will lose their weapons and be banished. This man, *Rolando
Paul, says the rebel leaders are losing the war through
ignorance. PAUL: Ask us, one of them, if, if they know the
mountains of Nicaragua. They don't know.
FRANCIS: Yes, there have been big problems, the leaders admit,
but they dismiss these guerrillas as a handful of troublemakers.
The leaders insist morale is high, even at this clandestine
rebel hospital outside the Honduran capital. There are 100
wounded here. A senior rebel leader said there will be many
more in the next six months. 'Because,' he. said, 'we have only
that much time to prove to the CIA and our own men that we can
win.' Fred Francis, NBC News, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
PALMER: CIA officials in Washington, when asked about U.S.
involvement in Central America and reports that the CIA is
providing planes to the rebels... Well, they replied as they
always do, 'It is'not our policy to comment on such
allegations.'
. Approved For Release 2008/06/26: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000200890002-9