IN EXILES' WAR AGAINST SANDINISTS, FLORIDA IS H.Q.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200700066-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 21, 2010
• Sequence Number: 66
• Publication Date: December 7, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/21 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000200700066-0
ARTICLE OF! rPA~D~-~
Florida Is H. Q.T
NEW YORK TIMES
7 DECE?SER 1982
In Exiles' War;Againsf nis s,
By PHILIP TAUBMAN Groups Formed in IM 1 farmer in Nicaragua, J. David Zamora,
Sps5a1 to The New York Timms "We have tried to work with young a lawyer in Managua who now works as
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6- On a recent professional officers who were no g , an insurance salesman, and Enrique A.
evening in Miami, half a dozen men, sociated with the excesses of the na- Pereira, who owned the largest private
several
several in conservative business suits, tional guard, .1 Mr. Chamorro said. "It ' constructlon company in Nicaragua be-
assembled in a cluttered ground-floor is impossible to organize a military fore he fled in 1819. Mr. Pereira now
meripm Engineers and
office of the Interamerican Engineers force without some former members of owConstruct ns the ors Corporation.
and Constructors Corporation. the guard." The executive Aber hanging greetings in Span. The 'units controlled b i
Y meets reguLa= at the des and of
ish,-and chatting briefly about the latest the front were called the September ~
news from Nicaragua, their native 13th fives Of members is the Miami area,
cmm y ththe e men got down thei~: formed by former national guard offi- o`'er in the raising and public rein-j
piott of left-wing cars in 1880. tioas r the Political ica States.
Sandinist Government in Managua. The Democratic Front was created for the coalition is set by p a p Policy
by i
Latin The men were leaders of a coalition of last year in an effort to widen the ban!
olitical
American political and paramili_ support and establish a central erase! junta, which includes five military and
tarv
groups based in southern Florida. eight civilian exile leaders from Miami,
The groups, which have indirectly re- Oxon to coordinate antiSaadin.! Houston, Costa Rica and Honduras, ac-
ceived assistance from the Central in. ist activities, according to coalition: cording to Mr. Sacasa.
-
ttllrgmce Agency, according to na leaders But some exile leaders' most He said the Coalition's base of opera-
tianal security officials, are comprised proms-! noes in Central America is Tegucigal-
P ily of Nicaraguan exiles who fled neatly Edda Pastore Cbmez a former. pa, the Honduran capital. Leaders sbuut-
their cam when the Sandinista came leader who left Nicaragua tie between Tegucigalpa and Miami for
to power Imr979. The the Sandinista aid has coo- last year, have refused to join the front strategy meetings.
listed of money and military equipment tib use of its identification with the as A series of high-level meetings in
passed to the groups through iatamedi- T be
guard- Miami last month coincided with a jun.
pries, including Argentina, the Amen- Paramilitary units, which until for welterweight can officials said. recently were, received based prim assistance arily from in Hon- Pryor, n b0 match between
~ pn'ar, American, Mand Alexis
The leaders, who say they have more '~- Arguello, a Nicaraguan.
any exile'
tme
than 5,000 armed paramilitary troops military advisers when they began leaders remained in Miami to discuss
inside Nicaragua and just across the training in 1980, front leaders said. mill
border in Honduras, confidently Aid Is Called 'Y tactics after the championship
that they will assert Insuffitcient hart, which was won by the Amen' topple the Sandinist Gov- This year the groups began to receive, 1 l.esftrs of the front reporter that
etnment by the and of 1983. aid through intermediaries from the Pulrtaryoperations have entered a
News Coofereexx Scheduled C.IA, according J new phase in recent months as armed
geoffip to ~~ ~t-1 ' units have moved into Nicaragua from
In an effort to build support for their The front leals. aders in Miami, however, framing camps in Honduras.
cause in the United States, and to i
has Mr. Pereira, who was educated in
complained that the United States i
counter reports that they are former i
American schools, said: "We are much
pnotprovided sufficient assistance. "Wei
supporters of the late Gen. Anastasio stronger now, much better organized.
Somoza Debyle, the Nicaraguan- don't see any American aid for our We feel sure that the Nicaraguan people
leader ousted Din 1M, ebayle, coalition leaders political organization here in Miami,,' will rebel against the Sandinists and the
recently lifted some of the secrecy sur- said Octavio Sacasa, a television pro- Nicaraguan
doter. Goversent." Army will turn against the
rounding their activities. .,~ ~~ .. 11
'
their goals and to announce that addi.
tional exile groups have agreed to join
the coalition, which is called the Nica-
raguan Democratic Front.
"We want to give democracy a
chance in Nicaragua," Edgar Chamor-
ro, one of the coalition's leaders, said in
an interview recently. ''We have bees
pictured as Somora supporters - who
want to restoi+e a right-wing dictator-
ship in Nicaragua. That is untrue. We
want a democratic process that will
lead to free elections."
Mr. Chamorro,-wbo left Managua in
1979 and now works as a stockbroker in
Miami, acknowledged that paramili-
tary forces associated with the front in.
elude former officers in the Nicaraguan
National Guard, which was closely
identified with General Somoza. But be
denied that the former guardsmen were
enthusiastic Somoza followers.
They have acbeduled a news confer- has a bad acme. The tided,
the C.IA Because, its armed forces are out-
ugly American is
numbered
the C.IA agent. I cannot say whether the Coalition leaders is sftkmg to
we are gating help from the C.IA, but -ignite an internal
aguk
I can tell you that the C.I.A. has no as a guerrilla force inside Nica operating
stigma. We carmot understand why pen- attacking rgurr,
pie in this country find it wrong if the gets in military ica hit-and-run raids. ~ tar-ties to G
Americ overnan groups averal . support pro- The coalition also operates several
clandestine radio stations in Honduras
Junta sets Pointy and Costa Rica that beam anUSandia
The Coalition's der -to.da I ist propaganda into Nicaragua.
in'Miami are directed Y operations
Currently by an ~executive
seven exile leaders, including Mr. Cha.
mono and Mr. Sacasa. Other members
include Aristides Sdncba, who was a
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/21 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000200700066-0