HONDURAN PEASANTS CONFIRM REPORT OF BATTLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403790036-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 36
• Publication Date: March 28, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403790036-3
ARTICLE
ON PAGE ..~
NEW YORK TIMES
2~ March ]9g6
Honduran Peasants Confirm Report of Battle
By JAMES LeMOYNE
Spenal to TM New York Times
United States Army helicopters - ~
put at 14 by officials here and at 16 by
officials in Washington -today com-
pleted carrying 500 to 800 Honduran
CAPIRE, Honduras, March 27 - troops to this volatile border zone, ac-
Eight Honduran peasants told today of cording to Gen. John Galvin, com-
heavy fighting near this area close to mender of United States military
the border with Nicaragua and Hondu- forces in Latin America. The general
ran soldiers showed reporters five was boarding a helicopter to leave the
bodies that they said were Nicaraguan i area when the journalists landed.
soldiers killed in fighting inside Hon- i G.I.'s 'Have Done a Good Job'
duras.
The peasants' accounts and the
bodies were the first evidence that
journalists have been able to gather to
support official accounts that a large
Sandinista force attacked Nicaraguan
guerrilla bases near here five days ago.
"There were five days of fighting,"
Tolentino SAenz, a 45-year-0Id peasant,
said. "'T'hey say there are many dead
and wounded."
"They bombed and rocketed for
three days starting on Saturday," said
11-year-old Miguel Abram Sonano.l
"The people ran because they say the
Sandinistas entered."
This tiny community is within three
miles of the Nicaraguan border and
some 10 miles from two large Nicara-
guan guerrilla camps. It is about 140
miles east of the Honduran capital of
Tegucigalpa.
Peasants pointed in the direction of
the guemlla camps when they de-
scribed ?Nhere they heard sounds of
heavy combat in the last few days.
[In Managua, meanwhile, the Gov-
ernment said its atTrty had inflicted
heavy losses on rebel forces and had
destroyed several base camps in the
last two weeks.
[In a communiquE, the Nicara-
guan Defense Ministry did not
specify whether the actions took
place within Nicaragua or on the
ocher side of the Honduran border. In
the past, Nicaragua has maintained
that all important rebel base camps
along the northern border are in Hon-
duras. Many diplomats and other
neutral observers in Managua agree.
[The Defense Ministry said San-
dinista troops had killed 350 rebels
and wounded 150 in a two-week peri?
ad. [t said 40 Sandinista soldiers were
killed and 116 were wounded.]
The United States Embassy in Te-
gucigalpa provided two helicopters to
fly several journalists here to gather
accounts of what Reagan Administra-
tion officials say was a coordinated at-
"United States forces have done a
good job in getting the Hondurans
here," he said before he took oft. "It re-
mains to beseen what else they need."
Five American soldiers ran the land-
ing zone. An American otflcer, Lieut.
Col. Larry Gregg, said they were a
pathfinder team sent In to direct the
landing of American helicopters fmm
the Palmerola Air Base in central Hon-
duras. Colonel Gregg, who said he had
come to oversee the operation, . is com-
mander of United States Army forces
.at Palmerola, which is the main stag-
ingarea for American military maneu-
vers in Honduras.
The five bodies shown to reporters
appeared to be of men in their 20's and
early 30's. They were wearing blood-
stained camouflage uniforms that ap-
peared to be of the kind worn by San-
dinista forces. The bodies had several
bullet wounds. One wore boots that satd
in Spanish, "Made in Nicaragua." The
bodies appeared to carry no other iden-
tification.
A source in close contact with Nica-
raguan rebel and Honduran officials
said the bodies had been collected from
a nearby battlefield for )ournalists to
see. He said the men had been killed by
Nicaraguan guerrillas; a Honduran
officer said that they had been killed by
Honduran troops.
j Reported Prisoners Are Shown
The uniforms appeared to be the
same as those worn by two prisoners
whom the Honduran Army presented
on Wednesday. Journalists were not al-
lowed to question the two, but th?y de-
scribed themselves as Nicaraguan sol-
diers who had been captured to the
fighting on the border.
~ In addition to the bodies, Honduran
soldiers showed reporters a pile of
~ Soviet-made AK-47 automatic rifles, a
i few mortars, ammunition, canteens,
rocket launchers and RPG-7 rockets as
well as a number of light ground cloths
that said "Sandinista Popular Army. "
The soldiers said the equipment,
tack by more than 1,000 Sandinista
troops against the two guerrilla bases.
The fighting was said to have taken ~
place in a region 15 to 20 miles east of
the Honduran town of Ias Trojes, in a
"parrot's beak" that protrudes into
Nicaragua.
The Naw~ YtMe Times /March 7B, I9B!
Fighting is reported to Gave taken
place is area of Las TroJes, Are-
nales, Cifuentesand Capire.
which is the same as that used by the
Sandinistas, was collected from a bat-
tlefield nearby. It was not possible to
confirm their account.
The helicopter flight to the border
took reporters directly over what ap-
peared to be a large rebel camp, with
dozens of green tents and large num-
bers of armed men standing on nearby
hills and in flat hollows.
A Honduran otflcer who identified
himself as Lieut. Col. Danllo Carbajal
Molina, told reporters that the Hondu-
ran Army estimated that 1,200 Sandin-
ista troops attacked in the area begin-
ninttlast Thursday. He said the first the
Honduran arrrty knew of the attack was
when Sandinista forces shot down a
Honduran helicopter that day.
Colonel Carbajal said the Sandinistas
may have entered the area to attack
Nicaraguan guerrillas who he said oc-
casionally came into the zone as refu-
gees, but he then said so many Nicara-
guan troops had crossed that he be-
lieved this had been a more coordi-
nated attack.
The Hondurans have been greatly
embarrassed by publicity given to the
Nicaraguan attack because the Gov-
ernment here does not officially recog-
nize the presence of Nicaraguan guer-
rilla bases inside Honduran territory.
The colonel, for example, refused to ac-
knowledge that there were such bases
in the area or that they may have been
the target of the Sandinista forces.
Rea an Administration officials and
sour~~, i~_ j?Ion uias_ wtT.t~c~esstartu-
rent intelli ence re its sa t
1, an tmsta troops croscfd in p
Honduras to attack guerrilla bases and
that three days of steady righting fol-
lowed. The sources here said that the
fighting has now died down and that
most Nicaraguan troops are heading
back across the border.
A source here with access to intelli-
ence re rts satd~te on uran Arm
er tcar'aguan atierr-Ties to
return to their bases and to sta they
a arent to an a ort to r uce -
sions on t e or er. a sai~ondurans
were seeking to avoid further clashes
at this time between Nicaraguan rebel
forces and Sandinista Army units.
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403790036-3