NICARAGUAN CAUGHT DIRECTING SALVADOR REBELS, HAIG SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000403750003-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 24, 2010
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: March 5, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/24: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403750003-1
Oil PACE
THE WASHINGTON POST
5 March 1982
_01revim" - nalvadohr;!,
S
By Don Oberdorfer
Wash1n8t0n?oetstatt Wrtt f
Secretary of State Alexander M.:.
Haig Jr., promising' to make avail-
able detailed evidence within days of
external involvement z in El Sal-
vador's civil war, announced yester
day that a Nicaraguan had been cap-
tured while directing Salvadoran
guerrilla operations.
In a Capitol - Hill ; appearance to
lobby for a proposed $2.2 billion in=
crease in foreign. assistance, Haig
continued his sharp attack on Nic-
aragua, declaring that-the Sandinista
leadership there would be ousted in
. "--He also asserted'-. that, despite'
their public claims-'to, the contrary,'
Nicaraguan leaders harve?made "very
clear" their right, and intention to
support revolution - in El Salvador
and other parts of Central America.
Haig ran into. some congressional
skepticism about: the.. direction. _ of
U.S. policy and the evidence of out-
side intervention, notably from Rep.
Clarence D. Long (D-Md.k chairman
of the House appropriations subcom-
. mittee that heard Haigr
Long said that iir recent visits .t
seven countries iri the Central'Ainer
ican area, "I did :not get the impres-
sion'.that: we -.were even : making . a
contribution toward 'a.'solution", of
regional strife..-Ha'said he found' a
belief - in the- area that. US. "gunboat-
.diplomacy"e is harmful rather than
helpful to friendly nations.
Shortly before Haig testified "two,
'legislators announced that .:104.
House -members, ,including 12: Re-.
publicans, have-appealed by letter to
President Reagan, to accept a- Mex-
icaroffer to negotiate an end to the
Salvadoran civil war. .Mexicai- Pres-
ident Jose Lope4 Portillo!s_offerhas
been accepted by insurgent forces in
El Salvador: but=riot by-the-rung
junta nor by the U.& government: r?;
aongJCessionallette` tar-Rea`
The.
gan, announced by Rep. James A. S.
Leach (R-Iowa) and Rep. David E.
Bonior (D-Mich.) said, The escalat-
ing crises in-El Salvador, Guatemala
and Nicaragua are reaching a critical
juncture and run the risk of involv-
ing the United States in a major re-
gional conflagration." A suggestion by Long of new ne-
gotiations with Nicaraguan- officials
elicited Haig's revelation that "today,
for the first time, a Nicaraguan mil-
itary man was captured in Salvador,
having been sent there by the. FSLN
[the.ruling authority in, Nicaragua]
to participate in the direction which
is so evident of this guerrilla.oiler-
ation from Nicaragua."
Outside the. hearing room, Haig
told reporters that he would call the
captive a guerrilla rather than a mil-
itary man, that the man admitted
working with the- Salvadoran. rebels
and that .'.'he was sent there by the-
Nicaraguan government to assist in
the revolution"
Despite Haig's statement, Salva
doran ? -authorities have, publicly
presented other Nicaraguans in the
past. whom they charged with aiding
the Salvadoran guerrillas . ?;
Hai 'who has. refused, to mak
ub is evi ence. to back up hi
charges of Nicaraguan support and
control of-the Salvadoran rebels, said
CIA briefings. provi a to t e mte -
ligence-oversight committees o the
two houses of Congress confirm in a
,very clear, very specific and very ..challengeable way" Nicaraguan an
Cuban involvement in 91 Salvador..
Rep-Edward P. Boland (-Mass),
chairman of the: House -intelligence,
t?Committee, saidthe- inlormation]
about. Nicaraguan support and sup-I
1 for Salvadoran rebels :was :"con-,
wincing
Prodded by Long Haig promised
ia make some -of the intelligence
-data.wi e! available to members o
Congess perhaps as ear as to a .
OfficiaL sources..sai .:: into iaence
agencies have been instructed to pre`:
}are data For oublic release.
Turning to the internal military,
buildup in Nicaragua, Haig said that
country has built am ."unprecedent
ed't}.army of 25,000 men, more than.
the combined forces of other Central .)
American states, and- has imported
Soviet-made tanks, artillery and .l
anti-aircraft weapons.
He said that 75 Nicaraguan pilots
have been trained to fly Soviet Mig
warplanes in Eastern- Europe and
that 2,000 Cuban military advisers.
and .70 Soviet technicians and mil-
itary advisers are in Nicaragua. -.
Haig also said -U.S. Embassy at
.taches in Honduras had reported, on.
the basis of interviews with Miskito
Indian refugees near the Nicaraguan
border, that Nicaraguans, Cubans
and "other Caucasian non-Spanish
speaking people that they assume to
:I
,be Russians" had entered Indian vil-
lages before they were recently razed
by the Nicaraguan military-;
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/24: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403750003-1