LETTER TO WILLIAM J. CASEY FROM LEE H. HAMILTON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90B01390R000300460013-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 8, 2011
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: January 27, 1986
• Content Type: LETTER

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STAT
STAT
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LEEJI HAMILTON. INDIANA, CHAIRMAN
LOUIS STOKES. OHIO
DAVE MCCURDY, OKLAHOMA
ANTHONY C. BEILENSON. CALIFORNIA
ROBERT W. KASTENMEIER. WISCONSIN
DAN DANIEL, VIRGINIA
ROBERT A. ROE, NEW JERSEY
GEORGE E. BROWN, JR., CALIFORNIA
MATTHEW F. MCHUGH. NEW YORK
BERNARD J. DWYER. NEW JERSEY
BOB STUMP, ARIZONA
ANDY IRELAND, FLORIDA
HENRY J. HYDE, ILLINOIS
DICK CHENEY. WYOMING
BOB LIVINGSTON, LOUISIANA
BOB MCEWEN, OHIO
THOMAS K. LATIMER. STAFF DIRECTOR
MICHAEL J. O'NEIL, CHIEF COUNSEL
STEVEN K. BERRY, ASSOCIATE COUNSEL
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE
ON INTELLIGENCE
WASHINGTON, DC 20515
January 27, 1986
Honorable William J. Casey
Director of Central Intelligence
Washington, D. C. 20505
ROOM H-405, U.S. CAPITOL
1202) 225-4121
Exeputtve Registry
86- 0374
9V 5 C -2--
Dear Mr. Casey:
I recently was provided a copy of the attached letter to the Secretary of
State from Aryeh Neier, Vice Chairman of Americas Watch, commenting on a
specific incident discussed in the President's November 6, 1985 report to
Congress concerning human rights abuses in Nicaragua. I was struck by the
disparity in the report's account of an incident at Cuapa, Nicaragua on either
August 1 or 2, 1985 with the findings of Americas Watch. I therefore would
appreciate receiving a copy of all information available to the Agency that
bears on the events in question.
With best wishes, I am
Lee H. Hamilton
Chairman
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AMERICAS WATCH
Orville H. Schell
CHAIRMAN The Honorable George Shultz
Aryeh Neier
VICE CHAIRMAN
Peter Bell
Robert L. Bernstein
Albert Bildner
Jonathan Bingham
Abraham Brumberg
Dorothy Cullman
Drew S. Days. III
Patricia Derian
Adrian DeWind
Stanley Engelstein
Tom J. Farer
Robert Goldman
Jack Greenberg
Alice Henkin
Anne Johnson
Russell Karp
Stephen Kass
Marina Kaufman
Jeri Laber
Margaret Lang
Dorothy Marshall
Marshall Meyer
John B. Oakes
Michael Posner
Bruce Rabb
Richard Salor ?#on
Jeanne Richman
Sanford Solender
Giorgio Solimano, M.D.
George Soros
Alfred Stepan
Svetlana Stone
Rose Styron
Hector Timerman
Gregory Wallace
Lois Whitman
Juan E. Mendez
DIRECTOR
WASHINGTON OFFICE
Holly J. Burkhalter
WASHINGTON
REPRESENTATIVE
Jemera Rone
COUNSEL
L 0 REPLY TO: 36 WEST 44TH STREET, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10036 [phone]
0 REPLY TO: 739 EIGHTH STREET, S.E., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20003 [phone]
Secretary of State
Department of State
Washington, DC 20520
December 26, 1985
Dear Secretary Shultz:
I write to comment on the report, recently published
in the Congressional Record, submitted to Congress by the
President on November 6, 1985 in compliance with require-
ments of the legislation approving "humanitarian" assis-
tance to Nicaraguan insurgents. In addition, I wish to
raise a question about sources.
The Americas Watch takes issue particularly with
the following paragraph:
"According to those on the scene, a government
press story that FSLN and neighborhood defense committee
members had been brutally murdered in an August 1, 1985
'contra' attack on Cuapa was false. Witnesses said the
encounter was a military-to-military engagement which
left a number of Sandinista soldiers dead; there were no
civilian casualties. Following the fight, the resistance
troops held a town meeting with residents, after which
they left. Nevertheless, there were press reports that
the 'contras' had not only murdered innocent civilians,
but skinned their faces. It appears that the Sandinistas
mutilated the bodies of some of their own casualties to
substantiate such a charge."
Americas Watch conducted a special investigation of
the events in Cuapa after it was first reported, not in
the "government press" but in The Washington Post
("Contra Attack Said to Kill 51 Nicaraguan Soldiers" by
John Lantigua, August 8, 1985). On August 10 and 11, the
Director of our San Salvador office, Ms. Jemera Rone,
visited Cuapa and conducted interviews with several wit-
nesses to the attack and to the subsequent events. Inci-
dentally, the attack on Cuapa was on August 2, not
August 1. This is what happened.
The attack by an FDN contingent was resisted by
Sandinista Army (EPS) soldiers stationed in Cuapa. Sev-
eral EPS soldiers died in the battle for control of the
town. The FDN eventually overcame that resistance, and
captured ten soldiers, including nine draftees and one
sublieutenant, none of whom were from Cuapa. In
The Americas Watch is a Committee of the Fund for Free Expression and it is affiliated with the Helsinki Watch Committee.
The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights is Counsel for the Americas Watch.
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occupying the town and organizing a town meeting, the insurgents
also captured Olman Martinez, 41, the local government
representative, Jose Patricio Telles Brene, 38, the school
watchman, and Ms. Alba Escobar, the school librarian and teacher.
At the town meeting, the chief of the contras asked the
population what to do with Mr. Martinez. Many spoke up for him.
Some persons asked the contras what would happen to the soldiers,
but the insurgents refused to discuss the matter with the
townspeople.
Thby left the village a few hours later, taking their hos-
tages along. On their way, they ambushed Sandinista reinforce-
ments, killing 32 soldiers. After a short walk into nearby fincas,
the hostages were separated. As Mr. Martinez was being carried
away by his captors, he heard some 15 minutes of shooting. He was
interrogated all day, but around 7 p.m. he was told he could
return home because the people had spoken for him. He was finally
released at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, August 3. He returned to Cuapa,
some 13 kms. away, and the next morning he led soldiers to the
area where he had heard the shooting. They found 11 bodies at a
finca called La Estacion, owned by a Mr. Roger Marin. Mr. Martinez
says the bodies had wounds in their back, and some had signs of
mutilation, such as tongue cut out or eyes missing. One of them
was Mr. Telles, who was in uniform and armed when captured,
although he did not participate in the battle for the town. The
only other victim known to Mr. Martinez was Sublieutenant Alvaro
Tercero who had been in Cuapa for some time. The other nine were
draftees from other parts of Nicaragua.
Ms. Alba Escobar Baez was presumably taken because she had
assisted in the draft. The contras told Mr. Martinez that she
would be released, but as of Ms. Rone's visit to Cuapa she had not
returned home. We understand, however, that she was released
several weeks later.
The preceding account ;.s based on interviews conducted by Ms.
Rone with many eye-witnesses, including Mr. Martinez and his
family, the mother of Mr. Telles, who was with him at the time of
his capture., and the father of Ms. Escobar. A more complete memo-
randum of this mission is available from Americas Watch.
Shortly before this incident, three members of Americas Watch
had met with Messrs. Adolfo Calero, Arturo Cruz and Alfonso
Robelo, to inquire about the plans to organize a human rights
commission and other humanitarian structures within the Unified
Nicaraguan Opposition (UNO). As soon as we heard of the Cuapa
incident, we submitted our findings to the UNO leadership, asking
them to investigate them. Although we have insisted several times,
we have yet to receive any information about what those bodies did
to investigate this episode and punish those who could be found
responsible.
The State Department version of events not only contradicts
our on-site findings; significantly, it also contradicts a partial
admission made by a prominent leader of the FDN, Mr. Indalecio
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Rodriguez, who happens to have been appointed to head one of the
recently created humanitarian bodies of the UNO. In an article in
The New York Times ("Anti-Sandinistas Vow to End Rights Abuses,"
September 15, 1985) he was asked about the Cuapa incident.
Mr. Rodriguez responded "that it appeared possible that rebels had
executed some prisoners. The guerrillas acted harshly, he sug-
gested, only 'because the local people got excited and demanded
justice.' He called the incident 'an excess in the heat of war."'
Mr. Rodriguez's statement not only misrepresents facts, but
it also' attempts to blame innocent civilians for atrocious crimes.
The UNO leader charged with human rights and humanitarian duties
attempts to excuse actions that would be inexcusable even if his
version of events were correct. But at least he was partially
candid. The Reagan administration, instead, preferred to mask the
whole episode and deny that it happened. The references to "those
on the scene" and "witnesses" are unexplained. Who went to the
scene to interview which witnesses?
This is a particularly important question because the Per-
manent Committee on Human Rights in Nicaragua (CPDH), an organiza-
tion that is highly critical of the Nicaraguan government and that
is frequently cited approvingly by the Administration in the
President's report to Congress, declined to go to Cuapa to look
into the events of August 2. Before Jemera Rone went to Nica-
ragua, she called Lino Hernandez, Director of CPDH, and asked him
to accompany her to Cuapa to investigate, but he declined saying
that CPDH's rules required that he could only look into a matter
if the organization received a complaint from a family member, and
no such complaint had been made to CPDH. Subsequently, Americas
Watch has repeatedly asked CPDH to investigate the episode at
Cuapa, but with no success.
Some U.S. journalists did go to the scene, but their accounts
confirm the Americas Watch's findings. In addition to John
Lantigua's account in The Washington Post (supra) see Dan
Williams, "Contra's Raids Send Message to Managua," The Los
Angeles Times, August 13, 1985.
As we know of no independent human rights organization other
than Americas Watch that went to the scene, and we know of no
journalists who went to the scene who reported a different version
than the one ascertained by the Americas Watch's researcher, we
wonder whether someone from the U.S. Embassy went to the scene.
If so, why not say so?
If it was not the Embassy, and no other information on this
matter is provided, one has to conclude that the State Department
has talked to members of the FDN task force who attacked the town
(perhaps chief "Dumas" himself) and decided to relate to Congress
this version. We believe that such a procedure is not what the
Congress intended when it required the President to report on the
contras' compliance with human rights and the laws of armed
conf-11 c t .
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There are a number of other matters in the report to Congress
with which the Americas Watch takes sharp issue. We will comment
on those at a later date. For the time being, we call on you to
respond to the questions we have raised about the source of your
information on Cuapa.
Sincerely,
Aryeh Neier
cc: Ambassador Robert Duemling
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