"CIA ROLE SEEN IN GENERAL'S FALL"

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90B01390R000400580041-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 8, 2011
• Sequence Number: 41
• Publication Date: February 10, 1986
• Content Type: MEMO

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/08 :CIA-RDP90B01390R000400580041-8
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/08 :CIA-RDP90B01390R000400580041-8
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/08 :CIA-RDP90B01390R000400580041-8
9 February 1986
CIA Role Seen i '
n General s Fal
1
Agency Said to Back Hondumn's Right. Ong Rivals
By Anne-Marie O'Connor
e.+..
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, Feb. 8-The
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency planed a deci-
srve part m events that kd to the removal of
Honduras' armed forces canmarder in a miliL,r,
mower struggk last week according to Hondu-
ran m~litarv and forelgn dipkNnatlC sources.
Although it was not directly involved in the
departure of Gen. Walter Lopez Reyes, the C[A
backed a group of right-wing officers who pres-
sured him into resigning and sought to isolate a
group of junior officers who wanted Honduras to
take a more independent line from the United
States. they said.
Lopez Reyes said last week he was resigning
for personal reasons from the post of armed
forces commander, considered the most power-
ful position in Honduras.
Military sources said he quit because of a dis-
pute over the U.S.-backed Nicaraguan guerrillas
known as contras, or counterrevolutionaries,
operating from Honduras. They also said his in-
creasingly independent manner of making policy
decisions irritated felknv officers.
Lopez Reyes later said he had changed his
mind and wanted to stay, but the 4&member
Armed Forces Superior Council ignored this and
accepted his resignation Feb. 1. Col. Efrain Gon-
zalez has taken his place for the time being.
U.S. Embassy officials said the were unable
to comment on mte ~ ence matters w en ues?
lion a ut t e a e involvement in t
m~l~tary up ava . massy spo esman ur
Skop said it was "an internal affair of the Hon-
duran md~tary m whit the United States was
not involved.
~ZIA-s eswoman in Washin on said she;
would not comment "on a le tjons o a e x-
~tt~'it,es."
-~~nduras' armed forces, which control political-
power from behind the scenes, share Washing-~
ton's view that Nicaragua is threatening stability
by trying to spread MarxLSt revolution in the rd?
gion. _ .
But a younger group of nationalist officers,
ashamed of what they interpreted as Honduras',
blind subservience to U.S. interests, had begun
to criticize their country's foreign policy, the
sources said.
They wanted Honduras to adopt a more inde-
pendent tine, restrict the acUhues of the contras
and obtain more U.S. aid, the sources said.
The CIA sought to isolate hoc o ~n of d~-
cers, which it feared would disru Ame
it leaders were purged from command
posrtwns in December folbv-nng a shake-up y~
m-litary ranks that strengthened their right-wing
rivals.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/08 :CIA-RDP90B01390R000400580041-8