THANKS FOR SENDING ME A COPY OF YOUR ADDRESS REVIEWING NICARAGUA S COMMITMENTS TO THE OAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86M00886R001900110009-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2008
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: September 6, 1984
• Content Type: LETTER

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Central Intelligence Agency
Office of the Deputy Director for Intelligence
6 SEP 1984
LLl- 0~ ~ ~ 3-~y~1
NOTE FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
Attached for your signature is an
acknowledgment of Ambassador Middendorf's
letter of 15 August. In it, he noted the
need for the OAS to monitor Nicaragua's
progress--or lack thereof--on its collIInitments
to that organization. Given your interest in
the area, he enclosed a copy of his July address
on the topic.
o er s
Deputy 'rector for telligence
STAT
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CerMral Intelli~erxe A~ncy
Ambassador J. William Middendorf, II
Permanent Representative to the
Organization of American States
Department of State
Washington, D.C. 20520
Thanks for sending me a copy of your address reviewing Nicaragua's
commitments to the OAS. Your direct treatment of the Sandinistas'
conduct helps focus hemispheric attention--and pressure--on the regime.
As you point out, the lack of support for the Sandinistas in the July
debate was significant and suggests success in highlighting the Nicaraguan
reality. I look forward to your continued efforts in this regard.
We are continuing to track very closely Managua's record in the
three areas you cited--Hwnan Rights, Civil Justice, and Elections--and
the Sandinista government's behavior continues along the lines you cited
in your remarks. Similarly, Managua remains a key player in resupplying
the Salvadoran guerrillas and exporting the revolution--although US policies
and Salvadoran military operations are helping to disrupt some of the
flow.
Again, my thanks for your material and be assured that I am personally
following the Nicaraguan situation as closely as ever.
Yours,
William J. Casey
Director of Central Intelligence
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5 September 1984
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?~SUSPENSE
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,~~~; ~ United States Department of State
United States Permanent Mission to the
Organization of American Stutes
Washington, D. C. 20520
August 15, 1984
Over the last three years in the OAS, the U.S. Delegation
has witnessed a growing disenchantment with the increasingly
pro-Marxist Government, of Nicaragua. Whereas in 1979 there
were many supporters for the incoming regime, today we see
more and more its isolation within the ORS which has been
caused by the growing realization that the Sandinistas have
no intention of living up to the three major commitments that
they made to the OAS on July 12, 1979 in a letter to the
Secretary General. These commitments were to establish full
respect for human rights, to enforce civil justice and to hold
free elections. In exchange, the OAS took the unprecedented
step (never done before and not since) to provide support for
the removal of an established government.
This is on our conscience at the OAS, and we have a very
real interest in monitoring the progress or lack of progress
in these commitments after five years which is time enough.
Last month on the fifth anniversary of these broken
commitments, the U.S. Delegation brought out in the strongest
possible language the concern that we and all other OAS members
must feel about the disingenuous performance of the Sandinistas
in failing to live up to these commitments. Indeed, they have
moved in the opposite direction by exporting revolution to
their neighbors and gradually turning Nicaragua into the
standard Marxist-Leninist model under the guidance of the
Soviet Union and Cuba. It was significant this year that no
one came to the support of the Sandinistas in the debate that
followed.
Because of your continuing interest in this region and in
the work of the OAS, I thought you might like to have a copy of
my remarks.
Sincerely-yours,
J. William Middendorf, II
Ambassador
Permanent Representative
;. ,
The Honorable _
William J. Casey, '..{
Director of Central Intelligence.
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Review of Nicaragua's
Commitments to .the OAS
July 18, 1984
United States Department of State
Bureau of Public Affairs
Washington, D.C.
Follouring is an address by Ambassador
J. William Middendorf II, U.S. Permw
Went Representative to the Organization
of American States (OAS), before the
OAS Permanent Council, Washington,
D.C., July 18, 1984.
The U.S. delegation wishes to raise the
matter of the solemn commitments
made to the Secretary General of this
body by the Sandinista junta 5 years ago
on July 12, 1979. This is not interven-
tion-this is reviewing our own role
after commitments made to it by a
member state. As a result of these com-
mitments and our own OAS resolutions,
we brought down a sitting government.
Tomorrow will be the fifth anniversary
of the date that the junta took effective
control of Managua; but, regrettably,
very little progress has been made in
putting into effect these commitments.
You will recall that these com-
mitments were made as a response to
the resolution of the 17th Meeting of
Consultation of the Ministers of Foreign
Affairs of member countries of the OAS.
According to Document 25 of this body,
published June 3.0, 1981, this resolution
"for the first time in the history of the
OAS, deprived an incumbent member
government of legitimacy" when it asked
that the Nicaraguan Government be "im-
mediately and definitively" replaced.
The resolution in question said that
a solution to Nicaragua's problems was
exclusively within the jurisdiction of the
Nicaraguan people but then proceeded
to dictate how the problems should be
settled. In addition to demanding a sit-
ting president's ouster, the resolution:
? Said that a "democratic" govern-
ment was to replace the existing govern-
ment. Its composition was to include
"the principal representative groups
which oppose the existing regime and
which reflect the free will of the people
of Nicaragua";
? Said that the human rights of all
Nicaraguans, without exception, should
be respected; and
? Called for the holding of free elec-
tions as soon as possible, leading to the
establishment of a "truly democratic
government that guarantees peace,
freedom, and justice."
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs
went on to urge the member states to
take steps that were within their reach
to facilitate an enduring and peaceful
solution of the Nicaraguan problem
based on these points "scrupulously re?
spatting the principle of non-interven-
tion."
They also asked that member states
promote humanitarian assistance to
Nicaragua and contribute to the social
and economic recovery of the country.
Many countries responded with an open
heart, including my own, with the
United States donating $118 million in
the first 2 years.
I would note that this 17th Meeting
of Consultation has never formally ad-
journed but only recessed. Given the un-
precedented involvement of all of us in
the process that brought the Sandinista
regime to power, the member nations
have a continuing interest-indeed, a
responsibility-in monitoring the situa-
tion in Nicaragua to see whether or not
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the.Sandanista government has, indeed,
carried out the commitments it so
solemnly made to us in 1979.
It is in this context that I propose to
examine the record here today, in order
to see exactly what has been happening
in Nicaragua since the Sandinista junta
assumed power there.
Here are the commitments which
the junta made to the Secretary General
in its letter of June 12, 1979:
? " ...our firm intention to
establish full respect for human
rights.... ";
? "...our decision to enforce civil
justice in our country ... to let justice
prevail for the first time in half a cen-
tury.... "; and
? " ...call Nicaraguans to the first
free elections that our country will have
in this century.... "
To do justice to the full historical
record, there were two other promises
contained in the same letter, one which
spoke of a peaceful and orderly transi-
tion from the Somoza government to the
Sandinista junta and another permitting
so-called collaborators of the Somoza
regime, except those responsible for so-
called genocide, to leave the country.
But I will concentrate here on the mat-
ters of human rights, civil justice, and
elections.
It should be noted that those who
signed for the Sandinista junta were
Commandante Daniel Ortega, Violets de
Chamorro, Commandante Sergio
Ramirez, Alfonso Robelo, and Moises
Hassan. Violetta de Chamorro is no
longer a member of the junta, and
Alfonso Robelo is in exile in Costa Rica,
where he is an outspoken critic of the
junta of which he was once a member.
Commitment Number One-
Human Rights
" .. [O]ur firm intention to establish
full respect for human rights.... "
Nothing has demonstrated the
callous disregard of human rights by the
Sandinista regime so much as their
treatment of the )Miskito Indians. Ap-
proximately 20,000 Miskitos-one-third
of the entire Miskito population-have
crossed the border into neighboring
Honduras thus far, where they live in
refugee camps. They have been victims
of the Sandinistas' constant campaigns
against them.
It all began with efforts by the San-
dinista government to try to force the
Miskitos into adapting their way of life
to a preconceived Sandinista model.
Many of these human rights offenses are
detailed in a report just released by the
OAS General Assembly on June 4
transmitting a report by the Inter-
American Human Rights Commission
dated November 29, 1983.
Miskitos have been forcibly relocated
from their traditional villages. In a few
cases where they resisted, they were
killed. Many were force marched to the
new area and not allowed to take their
belongings with them. In other in-
stances, the government appropriated
their farm animals for itself. On
February 18, 1982, the Episcopal Con-
ference of Nicaragua, headed by
Managua's archbishop, directed a
message to the people and Government
of Nicaragua denouncing the human
rights violations against the Miskitos.
The Miskito Indians long ago
adopted the Moravian Church as their
primary religious institution. The San-
dinistas have harassed the Moravian
Church, calling some of its ministers
"counterrevolutionaries." They have been
asked to change their sermons into
vehicles of support for the Sandinista
revolution. Church services have been
interrupted by Sandinista troops looking
for so-called counterrevolutionaries. A
Moravian hospital, the only one serving
a wide area of eastern Nicaragua, was
confiscated by the government and
turned into a military headquarters, ac-
cording to the Miskitos. Many Moravian
pastors-out of fear, frustration, or
both-have taken refuge in Honduras.
Amnesty International, an organization
which was highly critical of the previous
regime, denounced the Sandinistas in
September 1983 for this sort of
behavior.
Miskito organizations say their
villages have occasionally been bombed
by Sandinista planes. Efforts have been
made to force them to join ',,he San-
dinista militia.
Presumably for security reasons,
some Miskitos who were ocean
fishermen have been prohibited from
fishing, cutting off their livelihood and
their principal source of food.
The Miskitos had always maintained
their land as communal property of the
tribe. The Sandinistas have broken some
of these communal holdings up, making
them property of the state.
Smaller tribes, such as the Sumo
and the Rama, }have also suffered similar
violations of their human rights at the
hands of this so-called peoples' govern-
ment.
But by no means have human rights
violations been limited to indigenous
peoples. As you will recall, the Pope, on
his visit to Managua, was treated with
unheard-of rudeness. Sandinista
militants set up a parallel loudspeaker
system over which they heckled the
Pope and attempted to drown out his
sermon. Most of the areas close to the
Pope were assigned to these militants,
and ordinary Catholics who turned out
to receive the Pope's blessings were kept
at a distance.
Thisis a fitting illustration of how
the Sandinista government has treated
the Catholic Church.
Another example has occurred in re-
cerft days with the expulsion of 10
foreign priests from Nicaragua. The
ostensible excuse for their expulsion was
that they somehow had something to do
with a protest demonstration against the
house arrest of yet another priest,
Father Luis Amado Pena. But a majori-
ty of them were not even at the
demonstration in question, which, at any
rate, was a peaceful demonstration led
by the country's archbishop, the sort of
a demonstration which would be routine-
ly permitted in any truly democratic
country.
The Pope, in commenting on this ac-
tion, said: "I ask the Lord to illuminate
the minds of those responsible so that
they may reverse this decision, openly
harmful to the church and the needs of
the Catholic population of Nicaragua."
In recent years, the Archbishop of
Managua, Monsignor Obando y Bravo,
has not been able to have the traditional
holy week services broadcast on radio
and television because the government
wanted to subject the process to prior
censorship, a demand to which the Arch-
bishop understandably refused to ac-
cede. In a crude ploy, a priest, who is
the spokesman for the archbishop and
director of the Catholic radio station,
was accused of having sexual relations
with the wife of another man, stripped
naked, and paraded in public where San-
dinista mobs jeered at him while govern-
ment press photographers and television
crews, which "just happened" to be on
the scene, took pictures. The program-
ming of the Catholic Church's radio sta-
tion has been severely restricted. All
Marxist-Leninist governments eventually
reveal themselves asatheistic-even
though in the case of Nicaragua, a few
misguided priests hold higfi government
positions-and these governments use
their institutions to promote atheism.
The Sandinistas have attempted to
infiltrate Catholic youth groups, and
when this largely failed, they set up
their own so-called "peoples' church." In
November of 1983, all Nicaraguan
churches closed for a day in protest
against attacks by Sandinista youth
mobs on numerous churches.
The Nicaraguan Permanent Commit-
tee on Human Rights has itself been the
victim of Sandinista government ex-
cesses. The former president of the com-
mission, Jose Esteban Gonzalez, made a
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trip to Ifaly in 1981 where he denounced
the existence of political prisoners in
Nicaragua. On his return to Managua, a
number of supporters and colleagues
came to the airport to receive him. They
were never allowed to get near him but
instead were roughed up and spat upon
by Sandinista mobs. Only the presence
of the Venezuelan ambassasdor
prevented Gonzalez himself from getting
roughed up, but he was arrested a week
later anyway.
The current president of the
Nicaraguan human rights group, Marta
Patricia Baltodano, told the Inter-
American Human Rights Commission in
hiay of this year that Sandinista laws
have institutionalized the violation of
human rights. The setting up of so-called
Neighborhood Committees for the
Defense of the Revolution are really at-
tempts to limit the freedom of the in-
dividual Nicaraguan by instituting a con-
trol system over the population at the
neighborhood level.
Freedom of the press also suffers in
Nicaragua. The only independent
newspaper, La Prensa, has had its
publication suspended by the govern-
ment on numerous occasions and is sub-
ject to prior censorship. On countless
days, the paper has been so heavily cen-
sored that its editors decided not to
publish.
A recent example of this happened
July 10 when La Prensa attempted to
report on the expulsion of the 10 priests,
an incident which I have already dis-
cussed. Three items-one reporting on
the government's cancellation of their
residency permits, another on Catholics
condemning the expulsion, and a third
on the fact that they were allowed to
leave carrying only the clothes they
wore-were censored. Therefore, the
editors decided they could not print the
edition for that day.
The lack of the right for families to
determine how their children will be
educated, which we in the United States
consider a fundamental human right,
has been denounced by the Nicaraguan
Parents' Association. The Sandinista
government tries to use education to
brainwash the young against the ideals
of their parents and even to get them to
denounce their parents' lack of revolu-
tionary zeal to the authorities in some
cases.-Intellectual freedom and the
freedom to belong to independent labor
unions are also restricted in today's
Nicaragua.
The human rights of farmers have
suffered from Sandinista agricultural
policies. The so-called Economic and
Social Emergency Law decreed in late
1981 has made the state the only pur-
chaser of farm products. Thus, the
farmer can only sell his produce to the
government and only at the govern-
ment's price. Many small farmers have
been ruined by this policy, and
Nicaragua must now import some foods
in which it was previously self-sufficient.
At the same time, a large bureaucracy
has been established in order to control
all activities of the populace, soaking up
money which would normally be
available for investment in agriculture..
Even the newspaper Nuavo Dt.ario has
complained about the amount of money
used to support the bloated Sandinista
bureaucracy. All of the foregoing
demonstrates that the commitment to
" ...our firm intention to establish full
respect for human rights.... "has thus
far been grossly violated.
Commitment Number Two-
Civil Justice
Let us turn our attention to the second
Sandinista commitment to " ...?let
justice prevail for the first time in half a
century... "
Presumably, the Nicaraguan
Supreme Court, under the original San-
dinista plans, was supposed to have com-
plete autonomy in the judicial area, and
lower courts would be dependencies of
it. The Inter-American Human Rights
Commission in 1981, as well as an inter-
national commission of jurists, said that
the judicial branch in Nicaragua should
be independent from the legislative and
executive branches of the government,
not to mention the Sandinista party.
But, in reality, other courts have
been established which have nothing to
do with the concept of judicial independ-
ence as we know it. The Supreme Court
has no authority over them. One of them
is the so-called Peoples' Court at the
neighborhood level. These courts spend
their time ferreting out so-called
counterrevolutionaries in the neighbor-
hood. For example, a neighbor who does
not show tip for a meeting to promote
the Sandinista cause may find himself
labeled a counterrevolutionary by one of
these courts.
The right of habeus corpus in
Nicaragua must be questioned. As in
Cuba, people who have been jailed for
so-called political crimes are often not
released when their sentences have been
served. New judges owe their jobs to the
Sandinistas and are not about to show
any independence on the bench.
There exists no constitution, as such.
There was the Economic and Social
Emergency Law of 2981 which in 1982
became the State of Emergency. This
State of Emergency has been routinely
extended every time it was about to ex-
pire. Under this system, all laws are
issued by government decree. The State
of Emergency does not provide for the
right of the individual to a defense in a
court of law in some cases and in others
suspends the civil rights of the in-
dividual. This has been denounced by
Amnesty International.
Commitment Number
Three-Elections
So much for Sandinista justice. Let's
turn now to commitment number three,
dealing with elections.
We see that elections have been
scheduled by the Sandinista government
for November 4 of this year, 2 days
before our own. As we once had high
hopes for the new Nicaraguan Govern-
ment 5 years ago, can we now have high
hopes that at least this commitment will
be fulfilled? This is, in itself, a welcome
development, but there are some dis-
turbing statements on the record which
lead one to question just how open this
election process will be. In the letter of
July 12, 1979, the Sandinista leaders
committed to the OAS to "call
Nicaragua to the first free elections our
country will have in this century." This
was in reply to the resolution of the 17th
Meeting of Consultation of the Ministers
of Foreign Affairs which had said free
elections should be held as soon as possi-
ble, leading to the establishment of "a
truly democratic government that
guarantees peace, freedom and justice."
Yet on August 25, 1981, Com-
mander Humberto Ortega said that elec-
tions would not be to contest power but
to strengthen the revolution. On July 7
of this year, less than 2 weeks ago,
Commander Carlos Nunez Tellez said on
Radio Sandino:
The electoral process is the result of a
political decision made by the FSLN [San-
dinista National Liberation Front], its revolu-
tionary leaders, and the government to rein-
force the historical popular plan. There is
nothing more alien to the electoral process
than sectarianism, dogmatism, and other
vices that are characteristic of certain so-
called democracies.
Government spokesmen have said in
the past: "There are onl}? t~vo types of
Nicaraguans, Sandinistas and counter-
revolutionaries." Does that mean that
candidates and voters for other parties
will automatically be labeled counter-
revolutionaries? And what kind of treat-
ment will that cause them to receive on
the part of the government?
The neighborhood control commit-
tees are called Sandinista Defense Com-
mittees. They have set up an informer
society, modeled on the East German
plan and with East German agents con-
trolling their internal security. Tltey
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have the power to deprive a citizen of
his food ration card, for example-a
card, liy the way, which was never
needed in Nicaragua until this govern-
ment came along. These Sandinista de-
fense committees also control access to
schools, medicine, and health care.
It is also worrisome that the army is
called the Sandinista Army, and other
branches of the Armed Forces are simi-
larly named. Thus, the security forces
are intimately linked with one of the
political parties which will be running in
tae elections-the Sandinista party.
The electoral council which has been
yet up is made up exclusively of promi-
nent members of the Sandinista party.
~t'ill they be fair to the opposition par-
ties?
And will the state of emergency be
lifted for the elections?
Will the opposition parties be able to
campaign without interference by
authorities or by Sandinista-sponsored
youth mobs?
~Vill opposition parties have equal
access to radio and television as com-
Bureau of Public Affairs
United States Department of State
Washington, D.C. 20520
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pared with the Sandinista party? Will
they be able to have party represen-
tatives at the polls?
Will the Sandinistas allow interna-
tional observers to move freely about
the country during the election process?
How will the ballots be counted and how
will results be relayed to election head-
quarters?
We also note that, as time has gone
on, the government has arbitrarily con-
centrated more and more power in the
hands of the Sandinista party. What was
once the Government of National
Reconstruction is now the Sandinista
Peoples' Revolutionary Government.
Will the Sandinistas allow this process
to be reversed, or are we in for a sham
election in November just before our
own general assembly?
We have seen ho~v the Sandinistas
of Nicaragua have thus far failed to live
up to their commitments to the OAS of
5 years ago. It is a shame that the peo-
ple of Nicaragua, so hopeful in 1979 that
their situation would improve, have seen
their revolution betrayed by a group of
leaders who have aligned themselves
with international communism and
whose principal concern has been to
maintain themselves in power and, in-
deed, to export communism to their
neighbors virtually from the day they
took over. We in the OAS, which vas
deeply involved in the process by which
the Sandinistas took power, have a
grave responsibility to monitor the
fulfillment of these commitments.
In June 1979 a respected scholar on
Latin America., Dr. Constantine Menges,
wrote: "The defeat of the Somoza Army
by the Sandinistas will be followed by a
Cuban-type process from which the pro-
Castro guerrilla leaders will emerge as
the only group with real power." Five
years after he wrote this, and 5 years
after the Sandinistas' commitments to
the OAS, it developed that he was pro-
phetic. ^
Published by the United States Department
of State ? Bureau of Public Affairs
Office of Public Communication a Editorial
Division ? `i'ashington, D.C. ? Augttst 1984
Editor: Colleen Sussman ? This material is in
the public domain and may be reproduced
without permission; citation of this source is
appreciated.
Postage and Fees Paid
Department of State
STA-501
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