CONTRAS FAIL TO MAKE FIELD GAINS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605210006-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 2, 2012
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: December 28, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605210006-5
WASHINGTON POST
28 December 1986
MANAGUA, Nicaragua-An un-
ontras
C Fail to Make
Field
Gains
Nicaraguans, Expecting the Worst Ater New
After , Fin
By Julia Preston Aid
ham ered by bureaucratic tangles Army alm
The Sandinista Arin mid-No-
-said . officials and frustrat d
vember threw in additional light
contra ea ers in t e re?ion.
counterinsurgency battalions to
Many rebels of the Honduras- keep the Salazar units, low on am-
based Nicaraguan Democratic munition, on the run. "They could
Force (FDN), which includes about just dog those people to death," said
10,000 fighters, are penned into a. one U.S. official in Central America.
small triangle of hilly turf in south-
ern Honduras where most of their The Defense Ministry said that more 1, Sandinista
camps are located. From there, soldiers werethan
killed OinO combat in
they are able to steal back into Nic- 1986. It placed contra deaths at-.
aragua only in small groups. About
3,000 Sandinista infantrymen, 4,000. Latin and European military
3,000d by Soviet inist field , observers estimated that contra
losses were at least equal to the
r bocket launchers and helicopter
gunships, set up blocking Sendiniatro in 1986, for the second
along the border-a "wall ofpweap- year in a row.
ons," according to one Latin mill- In any guerrilla war in which the
tar, expert. insurgents are gaining strength, the
"Tee water in which the fish casualties of the standing govern-
ment
swam is now contaminated with
forces are normally much
Sandinistas," said Ortega, recasting higher, they noted.
a maxim of the late Chinese Com- In 1986, the rebels did their best
munist leader Mao Tse-tung. "The fighting in more coventional, de!f ?i'
mercenaries will drown in it." sive combat on Honduran soil, * '
The contras are under pressure servers said. When more than:
on their rear guard from Honduran 1,000 Sandinista troops stormed..
authorities who blocked them from the border in March to destroy a'
fanning out along the border to seek guerrilla training school, contra
advantageous crossing points, and units maneuvered behind them, cut.
now demand that they move their ling them off and killing and wound.
base camps into Nicaragua in com- ing many dozens.
ing months. Diplomatic observers Military experts in several CeM
familiar with the situation at the tral American countries worry that`
border said the contras would have the contras may have waited,
to tie up a major part of their re- long in their base camps will
sources to defend a fixed campsite fighting to be able to recover_the-
inside Nicaragua. combined military and political mW
In Nicaragua's south-central mentum that guerrillas need to at-
province of Chontales, the FDN's tract and keep the loyalty of a cau-
rugged Jorge Salazar Task Force tious civilian population.
badgered the Sandinistas consis-
tently since mid-1985. But after a
secret arms resupply i(Z t was
shot down over the area Oct and
its American pilot and o- ilot
killed, onl one other wea ons dro
has succeeded contra and
U c ., -
QQ __1
f
c
l
expected calm prevails in this cap-
ital, and much of this nation, during
the holidays.
`=tany Nicaraguans anticipated
that by this Christmas season they
would be surrounded by firefights
between government troops and
U.S.-backed rebels, known as con-
tras, in the aftermath of U.S. con-
gressional approval of $100 million
in new aid for the contras in Octo-
ber.
But the contras, numbering no
more than 14,000, have not made
any conspicuous impact in the field
against the Sandinistas' combined
regular and militia forces of about
150,000 since the aid was approved.
Of the new aid, $70 million is for mil-
itary gear.
The contras rounded out the year
without carrying off any operation
that fired the widespread anti-San-
dinista spirits in Nicaragua, or sig-
nificantly damaged Sandinista posi-
tions. Contra commanders said lo-
gistics and a severe shortage of mil-
itary equipment prevented them
from maintaining fighters in Nicara.
gua's mountains in the final months
of a two-year cut-off of U.S. aid.
As a result, the Sandinistas'
claims to have crushed the contras
seemed more plausible to Ni-
caraguans by the end of 1986.
"It is only a matter of months be-
fore the mercenary forces will feel
they are totally disbanded," boasted
Defense Minister Gen. Humberto
Ortega at a recent press confer-
ence, using the Sandinistas' stan-
dard deprecating phrase for the con-
tras.
The CIA, now in charge of the
livery, has moved ponderously,
i
ia
s said.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605210006-5