BITTER CONTRAS RECALL DAYS OF HOPE AND U.S. SUPPORT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00418R000100050029-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 11, 2012
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: October 17, 1988
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/11: CIA-RDP99-00418R000100050029-6
Hitter Contras r
STAT
days of hopeai4 U. S.
support Casey would be dead of brain cancer.
The fate of the resistance was less
precipitous but just as certain It
By Glenn Garvin
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
William Casey wobbles slightly as
he climbs onto the reviewing stand
in a Honduran meadow, just a few
miles from the border with Nicara-
gua. At 73 he is not as sure-footed as
he once was in climbing ladders, but
his voice is strong. Listening atten-
tively are several hundred Nicara-
guan rebels who, in a few weeks,
their pockets bulging with new bul-
lets and hand grenades from the
United States, will cross the border
to try again to topple their country's
Marxist government.
To them, the man on the ladder is
the second most powerful in the
world - after Ronald Reagan, of
course - and he must have an im-
portant message.
Mr. Casey does not disappoint
them. "It's a great privilege for me
and my country and President Rea-
gan to stand side by side with you in
this struggle," he assures them. "I
can assure you that this commit-
ment is a solid one from the pres-
ident and the Congress of the United
States - and from the people."
The troops are silent while the
words are translated into Spanish.
And then - a roar! The master spy
and his president are committed.
see
see
It has never looked so good again.
The Casey visit to the resistance
went on to enjoy its best year in the
field, banishing the Sandinista air
force from the skies, wrecking the
country's electrical power grid and
pushing Nicaragua's economy to
near collapse.
Fifteen months later, however, its
leaders and men discovered that
their commitment from the United
States was as ephemeral as the elec-
trons that made up Mr. Casey's tele-
vision image.
The Iran-Contra scandal sharp-
ened what already was a thoroughly
polarized issue, and what began as a
foreign policy issue quickly dis-
solved into partisan confrontation.
The result: A Democratic-controlled
Congress refused to vote further
military aid, and, inch by inch, the
rebels began backing out of the
Nicaraguan jungles toward Hondu-
ras. ibday, fewer than 2,000 remain
inside Nicaragua, down from a high
of 15,000.
"They're deader than a doornail:'
says one U.S. official who has served
in Central America.
The military aid cutoff, which
took effect last February, was the
latest step in a peculiar and intermit-
tent dance between the Nicaraguan
resistance and the U.S. government
that has been going on since Novem-
ber 1980, when a small group of the
rebels spoke with members of the
incoming Reagan administration
about their dream of destroying the
Marxist-Leninist government that
had been ruling their country for the
Click. Enrique Bermudez snaps past year
off his video recorder, and the image At first, the group was composed
of the late CIA director fades to a almost totally of former members of
pinpoint. Elsa Bermudez lool{a oi'er the Nicaraguan National Guard, the
at her husband, the top resoistance army that waa enforcer for the fam-
military man. "I love to watch that ily of dictator Anastasio Somoza un-
tape, Ricky," she says softly. "We til it was toppled in 1979. Later - as
were winning then" the political bent of the Sandinistas
camp was taped on Nov. 19, 1986.
Within a week, the so-called "Iran-
Contra" scandal broke, sucking the
Reagan administration into a vortex
from which it would never really
emerge; within six months, Mr.
became clearer, and American dol-
lars grew more plentiful - the tiny
core of Guardsmen would be swelled
by thousands of angry peasants and
disillusioned former Sandinistas.
And what a strange dance they
were to have with the gringos. Some-
times the American aid has been co-
vert, sometimes overt, and some-
times through proxies. Sometimes it
has been administered by the CIA,
The Washington Post _
The New York Times
The Washington Tlmse The Wall Street Journal
The Christian Science Mon_
ito
New York Daily News
USA Today The Chicago Tribune
Date 17 per- d
sometimes by the State Department
and sometimesthrough government.
agencies that specialize in refugee
care. Sometimes it has included bul-
lets, and sometimes there have been
only beans and Band-Aids.
Eight years later, the rebels are
weary of the minuet, but they have
no other partner "I call it the 'uncer-
tainty policy,' " says one longtime re-
sistance leader. "Sometimes the
gri
ngos are with us, sometimes not.
11
All the Pauses and Permutations
in American aid over the years -
and the scare stories that accompa-
nied each one - make it chancy to
declare the resistance dead. And
certainly there are those who be-
lieve the rebels can still play an im-
portant role in Nicaragua, even with-
out American help.
But along with the imminent
departure of President Reagan, the
rebels' biggest champion, there are
differences, more foreboding and
seemingly final for the resistance,
about this cutoff.
The biggest is the stream of ref-
ugees it has created. During the last
few months, a steady trickle of Nica-
raguans - many of them rebel sol-
diers who have sold their weapons to
finance the long walk north - has
moved across the U.S. border near
Brownsville, Texas. Any morning of
the week, just across the border in
Matamoros, Mexico, dozens of Nica-
raguans huddle at the bus station or
in the lobby of the Hotel Fiesta
Gallo, bargaining with "coyotes" -
guides who, for a price, will arrange
passage into Texas.
American immigration author-
ities say they have caught 1,500
Nicaraguans along the border this
year; many times that number, they
say, have gotten away.
Some of the former fighters who
have crossed the border say that po-
lice and immigration officials in
Central America actually helped
them on their way north. Humberto
Galeano, an 18-year-old rebel vet-
eran who arrived here in May, said a
Honduran policeman bought his pis-
tol for $50 when he explained he
wanted to go to the United States.
Most of the resistance soldiers, to
CONTINUED
Page
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United States - at least, not yet. In- militm'S' aid to the resistance and
stead, they wait patiently in their leave him with 15,000 or so armed Z
base camps in Honduras, believing men with whom to contend, and this
American help will soon resume. month he proposed a United Nations
"I'm surprised that their morale force to expel all foreign soldiers
from Honduran territory.
is so high with what they've been But while others debate whether
going through:' says John K. Sing- the rebels will burden Honduras as
laub, a retired U.S. army general vicious bandits or destitute ref,
who raises funds for the rebels and ugees, the rebels themselves say it
is a frequent visitor to their camps. is people in Texas who ought to be
"They listen to the Managua radio, concerned. "There are 100,000
and they hear about all the great fighters and relatives altogether,"
Sandinista [political and diplomati?] says one rebel. "No way is Honduras
victories. But very few of them are
'That's it, let's get a green going to take them. No way the gov-
saying, card and go to the States: " ernments of Central America are
A March 23 agreement negotiated going to take them. If the U.S. gov-
with Managua might have helped ernment doesn't set up a program,
keep rebel units armed and inside then then they'll walk to the United
Nicaragua. It called for them to with- States. And the Central American
draw into designated cease-fire governments will help them:'
zones, where they could receive air- Such bitterness mirrors the frus-
drops of humanitarian aid. No tration that has grown steadily over
agreement was ever reached on the the years. The rebels say they have
precise location of the cease-fire been crippled by restrictions, by
zones, however. micro-management from gringos
Humanitarian aid has been deliv- who didn't understand their strug-
ered in Honduras, where it acts as a gle, and most of all by drawing troops away from support from a nation that inconsistent
the battlefield. did not
As the resistance sunits edge out of want to get its own hands dirty but
Honduras. As the insisted on giving lectures to those
omany them bring e their
iara supporters would. One movement sympa-
civilian out too. The re- thizer calls it a "Bay of Pigs in slow
sult: Some 11,000 rebel troops and
motion:
'
more than 20,000 of their civilian
relatives and supporters holed up in many U.S. officials, on the other
primitive camps scattered across hand, say resistance leaders have
southern Honduras, many suffering spent too much time haggling, have
from malnutrition, malaria, pneu- neglected their public image and
monia, tuberculosis and acute bron- have been slow to learn the lessons
chitis. of guerrilla warfare. "Talk about
Since February, or children in need of adult supervi-
sion!" sighs one exasperated Amer-
forces have been living on~$44.7 rebel
lion in non-lethal supplies from the ican official.
United States. But - as has often Whatever the merits of the re-
happened in the past - the surviv criminations, the alliance now may
ing assistance program is hope- be over for good. Most rebel leaders lessly snarled in red tape and bu- do not expect U.S. aid to resume any-
reaucratic bottlenecks. time soon. They are waiting out the
The program is being run by the November presidential elections, to
see if
Agency for International Develop- will a make olast George shot administration
ment, an agency more accustomed But mostly ly one Bush ahow
to building schoolhouses and medi- many yt they calculate
cal clinics than to acting as quarter of f their men will ll fight fight on
master to a guerrilla army. alone.
The blame does not all lie with the ? Research assistant Michael
agency, however. The Honduran gov- Tomorroww: : It Cromwell Itb bto as a report.
began this y
ernment does not want to make life idea."
too pleasant in the rebel camps, fear-
ing the rebels will get the idea that
they are welcome to stay. As early as
January 1987, Honduran President
Jose Azcona voiced the suspicion
that the United States would cut off
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/11: CIA-RDP99-00418R000100050029-6
3.
THE W FACES
Nicaragua's civil war has been a
wild pastiche of bullets and rhetoric;
and there have been as many battles
in Washington offices as in the jungle.
Here are some of the warriors - not
all of whom carry guns.
RONALD REAGAN: It wouldn't be
necessary to overthrow the Sandinistas 'if
the present government would turn
around and say ... 'uncle.' "
DANIEL ORTEGA, president of Nicaragua:
'Let me tell you something: What I really
would like to be doing is what Che did -
not to have stayed in Nicaragua after the
triumph, but rather, to have gone on to
other lands to struggle.... But we have a
reality here - the ongoing confrontation
- and we've been confronting it for six
years. "
EDEN PASTORA, charismatic
.
WILLIAM CASEY, CIA
director: "We rejoice today
that we can join actively in the
fight. I can assure you that
this commitment is a solid
one from the president and
the Congress of the United
States - and from the
people. "
ALFREDO CESAR, who joined
the resistance leadership with
strong U.S. backing:
Conservative rebels deride
him as someone with no
political experience inside
Nicaragua. He agrees: 'I've
never been a part of a
pre-revolutionary political
institution, thank God. I
identity myself with the hopes
and political aspirations of the
80 percent of Nicaraguans
who are less than 40. I
identify myself with he future.'
.a ? -
ADOLFO CALERO,a
resistance leader since the
earliest days: 'We should
have been more demanding of
the United States - we
should have demanded more
of our allies. We should have
put things more strongly to
them. And we should have
been prepared to stop the
thing if we didn't get what we
wanted.'
ENRIQUE BERMUDEZ, from
the beginning the top rebel
military man: 'If I am not a
good commander, where are
the good ones? Let's judge by
the results. I made the forces.
17.000 combatants who have
made life hell for the
Sandinistas. "
deserted to the resistance He
once sneaked into the U.S.
ambassador's residence in
Costa Rica, disguised with a
wig, a false hook nose and a
pair of fake glasses, for
breakfast. He complained that
the Costa Rican government
was seizing his military
equipment. "It's your own
damn fault," snapped the
ambassador. "You're sloppy
and careless."
ARTURO CRUZ JR., an
adviser first to the Sandinistas
and later to the rebels: He
laughs at allegations that the
U.S. encouraged the rebels to
commit atrocities.
"Historically, if you look at the
way that Augusto Sandino
behaved in the field, it was an
extraordinary event - I
mean, cutting tongues,
cutting legs and arms
off... We don't need the United
States to teach us to be
savages."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/11: CIA-RDP99-00418R000100050029-6