THE SANDINISTAS AND NICARAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100670019-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 8, 2010
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: August 22, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
_ _. __..__ _.___.____..___ .._~ ___ 1
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/08 :CIA-RDP90-008068000100670019-7
ST. JOHNSBURY CALEDONIAN-RECORD (VT)
22 August 1985
._ Th ~ San dinistas an d
~~ ~ Nicaragua
During an address earlier this year to the Metropolitan Club of
New York Clty, Central Intelligence Agency Director William J.
Casey said that CIA analysts have identified 46 indicators of con-
solidation of po~c ~iy a Marxist-Leninist regime.
Casey also said: "Of the 46 indicators, Nicaragua in five-and-
one?half-years has accomplished 33. They have established control
of the media, taken over radio and tv, censored the broadcasts of
Sunday sermons of the archbishop of Managua, and subjected the
only free newspaper, La Prensa, to a brutal daily censorship. They
have taken control of the education system. Nicaraguan textbooks
now teach Marxism. They attack the tenents of Western
democracy. They attack traditional religious teaching and en-
courage chlldren to maintain revolutionary vigilance by watching
for signs of ideological impurities in their neighbors, friends and
relatives. The Sandinistas have taken control of the military. They
have taken control of the internal secret police and have established
a Directorate of State Security. That directorate, according to our
reports, has hundreds of Cuban, Soviet, East German and
Bulgarian advisers. There are Soviet advisers at every level of the
secret police. In fact, it is safe to say that it is controlled by the
Soviet Union and its surrogates. Block committees have been
established to watch and control the people. The Church has been
persecuted. Witness the campaign mounted by the Directorate of
State Security to harass and embarrass Pope John Paul II during
his 1983 visit to Nicaragua. They have used political mobs (similar
to the Red Guards of Soviet and Chinese revolutionary history) to
attack democratic politicians, union members and religious
leaders. And finally, following Hitler and Khrushchev, the San-
dinistas have told the world that they would spread the example of
Nicaragua beyond El Salvador to Honduras, Guatemala and the en-
tire region. "
Mr. Casey has certainly given his fellow citizens and all
observers of Central America some food for thought.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/08 :CIA-RDP90-008068000100670019-7