ALL SIDES IN NICARAGUA PLAY TO US PUBLIC

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880023-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2010
• Sequence Number: 23
• Publication Date: August 12, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880023-3
C. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
ARTICLE APP 12 August 1985
ON PAGE
All sides in Nicaragua play to US public
Abduction of US activists is latest example of how `contra' groups
and ruling Sandinistas themselves try to manipulate US opinion
By !users Vornan
SON wrlMr cf The chrfetlen Science Mara.
"It was a real circus." Mexico ch-
That remark was made by a high-level source
among the "contras" fighting Nicaragua's Sandinista
regime. It sums up the reaction of many observers in
the region to the abduction and quick release of 29
US Christian activists and 18 newsmen by forces
aligned with contra leader Eden Pastors Gomez.
The abduction was
seen as a publicity gesture
in a part of the world that
seems to be producing,
more and more "fake
news" - aimed princi-
pally at consumption by
the United States public.
The gesture was seen
as an attempt by Mr.
Pastors, to show that, al-
.hough his faction is grow-
Lng weaker after having
been cut off from US gov-
~rnment funding, it is still
a military presence in the
Costa Rican-Nicaraguan
corder area.
US public opinion has become the principal silent
actor in the area, since it is viewed as the key to
breaking the impasse in which the contending Nica-
raguan forces find themselves.
The contras cannot overthrow the Sandinistas.
They think their only chance to do so lies in a US in-
vasion of Nicaragua. As they see it, the main obstacle
to such an invasion is US public opinion,.
Conve:seh the Sandinistas know their only key
to conthwed survival also lies in the hands of the US
public. Political analysts
in Washington and Cen-
tral America say that, al-
though the Reagan admin-
istration would probably
invade Nicaragua if it
could do so easily. it has
not done so yet because it
fears the domestic politi.
cal consequences of such
an act.
Thus, "John Q. Pub-
lic" has become the target
of various degrees of at-
tempted news manipula-
tion by the contras and the
Reagan administration, on
the one hand, and the
Pastore: trying to slaw that his faction is sti factor
The US Central Intelligence Agency stopped
backing Pastors last year he retused to unite
with another contra faction the US-backed-
Somocista Nicaraguan Democratic Force.
Contra sources say Pastore had to release the cap-
tives quickly under massive pressure from both the
US and his supporters.
Adding to the near-farcical aspects of the abduc-
tion, the band belonging to Pastors's group which
had abducted the Americans tried to disguise its
identity by saying it was allied with neither Pastora
nor the Nicaraguan Democratic Force but was,
rather, a new and independent right-wing contra
splinter group.
In the end the abduction proved to be more of a
publicity boon for the Sandinistas than for anyone
else. Stressing that all of the contra factions either
currently, or until fairly recently, received financial
assistance from the US, the front pages of the Nicara-
guan press spoke of "Reagan's hostages."
The abduction of the Witness for Peace activists
illustrates that more and more so-called "news
items" in the area are basically media events aimed
,
at manipulating publicopinion in the US. _ and more difficult to tell fact from fiction.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880023-3
Sandinistas on the other.
Examples of acts directed in part at US public
consumption abound. Among them are Pastora's re-
cent disappearance after a helicopter crash near the
Nicaraguan-Costa Rican border, and the recently
ended hunger strike of Nicaraguan Foreign Minister
Miguel d'Escoto Brockman.
One of the more memorable media events was the
dramatic flurry of accusations that emerged from
Washington after the Nicaraguan elections last No-
vember that East-bloc ships carrying Soviet MIGs
were about to land in Nicaragua. Other instances that
were largely "media shows" include many of the
peace offers and public attempts at negotiation by
both the US and the Sandinistas.
However, a more dangerous kind of news manipu-
lation may be in the offing.
Many contra leaders say the best way to provoke
a US invasion would be to create increasingly serious
border incidents between Nicaragua and democratic,
unarmed Costa Rica.
With much real fighting going on in the area be-
tween the Sandinistas and the contras
it will be more
II:Ita:4 pr.:. [Ii ! I