NICARAGUAN CONFLICT: HOW CLOSE TO CIVIL WAR?

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00552R000202030023-1
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
June 18, 2010
Sequence Number: 
23
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
March 28, 1983
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00552R000202030023-1.pdf140.44 KB
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STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/18: CIA-RDP90-00552R000202030023-1 ARTIMLE THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR 28 March 1983 NimruaA conflicts how close to cal war? By James Nelson Goodsell Latin America correspondent of Civil war may again be brewing in Nicaragua. -Less than four, years after the conclusion of the costly war that brought the left-leaning Sandinistas?to power, anew struggle for control of the Central American?landisshaping up, particularly in the bill co retry of northern Nicaragua. It was from those hills, among, - -staunchly independent Nicara-1 guans, that the Sandinistas launched., ' their successful struggle in the ,19M well-pressed -oliveedrab:;..tstignes,. Me whatem the eWand'flow ,of -the battle- now shaping up, the Sandinistas find them- selves in the un &::.posidlon . of warding off a.guerrilla trmirg9 . his less than four years since they exchanged. their -own . battle statmed. ~i~ez _, garb 'foz' bid to unseat the Sandinista government. Major fighting'-between :guerrillas and the .Sandinistas erupted this past 'week. Detailsare sketchy;: but,,-.these anti- Sandinista forces,' composed mostly of one-time Sandinista supporters and former National Guardsmen, may number as many as several thousand. They. apparently -are weir- equipped. Theirflghting potential; however,is unknown. , Also unknown is who supports diem _yand,:who trained them. The ratio of Guardsmen, .to-former Sandinistas is un- known. The presumption is that most of.the guerrillas are Nicaraguans and members of the Nicaraguan Democratic Front (FDN), an organization..,: with rightist political views headquartered in Honduras. :.. '-- ---.: .. But whether the FDN is entirely responsi-x ble for the fighting in northern Nicaragua is unclear . ' FDN spokesmen. say they are bat- tling the Sandinistas in the central and north- em parts of the country, but deny FDN forces are involved in -clashes in northeastern Zelaya Province. At this writing, there also are reports of.fighting in southern Nicaragua}' - and theYDN is apparently not involved. The guerrillas, therefore, are a,-tilt of.an erj=jk There is no enigma atioiitLS ting..Government .still piiesrlltas : that it was fierce this: