SANDINIST SAYS U.S. SEEKS PRETEXT FOR INTERVENTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505330003-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2010
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: March 10, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/30 :CIA-RDP90-005528000505330003-4
Fly Wr1RREN HOGS - : -
Spatiai to ZDe:re~r Yaet Tlmee..___. ~:,.
hLA:~tAGUA,;Nicaragua, Yfarch-9
One of the members of.the Nicene
junta said today that 'the- military
buildup here s-as "exclusively defen-
sive" and that the United States . was I pendent garrisons would revolt. He cen-
rnaking charges to the contrary to jus-i fered the military here in? the bunker
tify a poasible intervention. with his armored cars, tanks and elite
T?:e5andinistoKicial,SergioRamirez forcesallinoneplaceinManagua.
itilerado, conceded in an interview that "Our military organization," he con-
the country red expanded its armed ~~. "has [o do with the need to de-
forces and that garrisons are more scat {fend ourselves. We don't fear any up?
tered than when Nicaragua was ruled heaval .among the troops- We have
by Anastasio Somoza Debayle, but he spread out our garrisons the way any
disputed charges from Washington that? regular milttary force to the world
2,Ct0 Cuban soldiers were at the side of ` d0~'
tt;e Nicataawan troops. "There is not a ~ DenYU.5.?coop Figures
sine foreign soldier in Nicaragua*" he j Mr. Ramirez said the Sandinists
"
said. - - :
SeeldagNortaggressionPact: ~ : ~-:
. "When Mr. Haig, is saying everyday
that they are going Lo bomb us and at-
tac3 us and blockade us, how can they
4':en rum around and ask us not to de-
fend ourselves?" he asked.:- ~~ `-
Contrary Lubeing a thrrat toother na-
;tints ia.the-region, he ar7ued, Nicara-
~gua vas seeking a "nonaggression,
pact" with all the countries of Central `
America.. "We have stated this position
openly many times,.. he.said, "but na
1VL41 YCit'~C TIM~B
10 i~~taR ~ -i 1982
"We have more military garrisons of
course," he said on hearing the charges.
"But it is precisely because the spread
of Mr. Somoza's national guard was not
based on national defense but on inter-
nal repression. He didn't want to have
any of his military units out of his reach
never discuss the exact size of their
forces but that the Administration's
Lions would be a political failure for the
United States, and we're afraid they'll
pass us the bill for it." ',
Asked if the Sandinists had gone so far
as to ask the Salvadoran rebels to avoid
~ sabotaging the elections, he replied that
the Sardinists would have "no right" to
I do so and "no influence" over the insur_
gents in that country.
~ FearsU.S.?riayOrganizeEziles
Fie said he felt a direct American in-
tervention was "improbable," but the
Sandinists ware afraid the United States
would help organize a force of Cuban
exiles and the 5,000 to 6,000 former na-
tional guardsmen he estimated had fled 4
Nicaragua after the revolution.
;Fie disputed American?cftargesthat'
Nicaragua is shipping arms to the Sal- ~
'iradoran ~ rebels ~ and, cballeag?d::~
United Staies.to produce, evidence, lie,
said that Nicaragua had proposed joint'
surveillance of its border with Hon- ~
dttras, but the offerhad t2oL bees accept-
ed.."? ~ .-, .~ ~,.u;:~..; ~:.. , ,,;
.kNicai'agua~has naborder~tith El Sal
.vador, but~it faces Et:Salvador?acrtss ~
the Gul# of Fonseca.= Unted States de-
stroyers have receatty;been patrolling'~
there. -`.'I thinY the- waiships that t23e
United States has stationed is the Gulf
of Fonseca have all the information to
saywhetberornot wears slrippingarms ;
through it;" he? said;-"Wiry don't they)
saywhat they found?"?~~ t~ ~ ?_ . .
.. _. _. _.._._ __ .. ?~-w
I estimate of 70,000 today was "too
much"
'. He said .that they were building no
new airstrips but that they were ezpand-
ing two existing ones in the Caribbean
coastal cities of Puerto Cabezas and
Bluefields.' `We are doing both based on
money borrowed from the Central
American Development Bank- in Hon-
duras," he said. "These Ioarts were ne-
gotiated during the Somoza regime, and
we ass only continuing them."
; He said he considered the Administra-
body in the Reagan Administration d lion's claim that there were 2,000 Cuban
wants to heat us." Mr. Ramlrezwas re` ~! soldiers here "absolutely absurd." `? -
- --?---~ -- ~. ~--- ? -- ?~ -- - z-------
that were based on a brieYaccourtt of a
State Department news conference in
Washington that puzported to demon-
strate that Nicaragua was building up
its militaryforces.
Mr. Ramirez called the charges"pure
lies." saying, "What worries us is that
they could be a pretext for some kind of
thing they have in mind: '
He spread his arms wide. "They say
they have many options open," he said:
"I'm just reporting what they say."
'Mr. Ramirez, one of the two original
members 'of the junta that has been
managing Nicaragua since the over-
throw of Mr. Somoza in July 1979. was
interviewed in his Government House
office hung with sepia photographs of
Augusto Cesar Sandirto. namesake of
the revolution, and photographs of goer--'
rillas on the attack. He said he had not
been informed o[ today's brie[ing yin.
Washington until this correspondent
.told himoiit:. ~t .... .. ._ ..:;,t:_~:.~,,..
Biers in a country this size without any-
bodyseeing them?" he asked.
He claimed there were 2,000 teachers
and 400 doctors from Cuba still in Nica-
ragua- Until recently, he said, Cuban
technicians and engineers were helping
build a road from the provincial city of
MatagaIpa to mining areas near the
Caribbean coast but now "the work is
finished.'.
Mr: Ramirez and other members of
the Sandinist-ruled Government say
their tears of anAmerican-sponsored in-
tervention in or "destablization" of
Nicaragua are compounded by indica-
tions that Salvadoran guerrillas are
mounting a serious effort to disrupt the
electionsscheduledtherell~farclt28.
"We feel if the guerrillas are success-
ful. it will be quite a difficult situation
for us; ' he said.
"The United States has made of the
Salvadoran elections a crucial thing,'`.
he said. "They are putting all their eggs
iR one basket.. The failure of the eleG
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/30 :CIA-RDP90-005528000505330003-4