FOREIGN TRAINING OF NICARAGUAN STUDENTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP04T00990R000100750001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 4, 2013
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 27, 1988
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/02/07: CIA-RDP04T00990R000100750001-8
Foreign Training of Nicaraguan Students
27 July 1988
Prepared by the:
Office of African and Latin American Analysis
Middle-America Cuba Division
SECR
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27 July 1988
Foreign Training of Nicaraguan Students
Summary
Since the Sandinistas took power in 1979, we
estimate that up to 15,000 Nicaraguan youths have
received educational scholarships to study in Soviet
Bloc countries, including Cuba. While Nicaragua is
having trouble filling scholarship slots, we believe
the number of students going to Communist nations each
year has remained relatively stable. Most students
pursue technical studies, such as agricultural
engineering, but military and intelligence instruction
also is provided. The reintegration into Nicaraguan
society of these students, particularly those trained
in Soviet Bloc universities, apparently is not
progressing smoothly. Some returnees are expressing
frustration over the scarcity of good jobs.
This typescript was prepared byl (Middle America-
Cuba Division, Office of African and Latin American Analysis.
Comments and queries are welcome and may be directed to the
Chief, Middle American-Cuba Division, ALA
ALA M 88-20062
SECRET
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Background
Extensive assistance from Moscow and its East European
allies has bolstered Sandinista efforts to educate and
indoctrinate the Nicaraguan populace. In addition to providing
textbooks and equipment for use in Nicaraguan schools, the Soviet
Union, East Germany, and Bulgaria have provided Nicaraguan
undergraduate and post-graduate students six-year scholarships
for study abroad. Under the terms of a 1980 educational
cooperation agreement between Moscow and Managua, the host
government picks up the tab for the training, and possibly
transportation, of these students. Managua also signed similar
agreements with Yugoslavia and Hungary in 1985.
Cuba sent many teachers to Nicaragua immediately following
the Sandinista Revolution, but the number has declined markedly
in recent years. In late 1979, for example, over 1,000 Cuban
teachers traveled to Nicaragua to assist in a nationwide literacy
campaign. Such activity peaked in the early 1980s when some
2,500 Cuban teachers were working in Nicaragua. Since the mid-
1980s, however, the number of volunteer teachers from Cuba
working in Nicaragua has dwindled to a handful.
The Number of Students Abroad
Approximately 15,000 Nicaraguan students have studied in
Communist countries since the 1979 Revolution. University level
students go primarily to the Soviet Union and East European
countries, especially East Germany. Based on US Embassy
reporting, we estimate that nearly 4,500 university students have
studied in the Soviet Union since 1980; some 1,700 presently are
studying there. Over the same time frame, approximately 2,000
students have studied in Eastern Europe, with some 800 currently
enrolled in various programs. US Embassy reports indicate that
several thousand vocational students also are studying in Eastern
Europe.
Although the data are incomplete, the number of scholarships
for undergraduate and graduate students provided by the Soviets
and their Eastern European allies appears to have grown gradually
over the past several years, primarily because of an increase in
undergraduate slots. Sandinista officials, for example, claim
that the number of undergraduate scholarships offered in the
Soviet bloc increased some 25 percent--from 400 to 500--between
1985 and 1986. They further claim that the number of annual
post-graduate scholarships remained steady at approximately 150,
however. Reporting from the US Embassy in Managua earlier this
year suggests that the total 1988 scholarship allotment for study
in the USSR and Eastern Europe will remain at the 1987 level.
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Cuban training of Nicaraguan students appears to concentrate
on secondary school students. Based on US Embassy reports, we
believe that as many as 6,000-8,000 Nicaraguan youths have
studied in Cuba since the early 1980s. An estimated 2,000 are
currently receiving training in Cuba. The majority of these are
housed on the Isle of Youth, Castro's educational showcase for
Third World students.
Type of Training Received
Most Nicaraguan students abroad receive technical training.
For example, the 1986 scholarship list published in Nicaraguan
newspapers is heavily weighted towards disciplines with practical
applications: agriculture (108 openings), food and fishing
industries (41), textile production (21), and mining and
geological prospecting (50). Only ten scholarships on the list
were for the arts. Advanced training in such specialized fields
as medicine also is available. The US Embassy in Managua,
however, says that, in addition to professional studies, each
student receives continuous indoctrination in Marxism-Leninism.
Selection of Students
Within Nicaragua, competition for scholarship slots is
tightly controlled by the ruling party., The Sandinistas use
foreign scholarships to reward loyalty, and a student's political
leanings often are more important than his intellectual
capabilities or academic qualifications. According to US Embassy
sources, applicants must present letters of reference from pro-
regime mass organizations substantiating their "correct"
political credentials. For the past several years, press reports
indicate demobilized Army troops have had first priority for
undergraduate scholarships. More recently, the US Embassy
speculates that laid-off government employees will be given
special consideration in filling overseas training slots.
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Recruitment Woes
Over the past several years the regime has encountered some
difficulty in filling its slots for scholarships, according to
US Embassy reports. Popular antipathy toward Cuba and the Soviet
Union, which probably has grown in recent years, may be partly to
blame for the shortfall. Moreover, some wealthy parents send
their children to school in other Central American countries or
the United States. We believe, however, that the regime has
filled its quotas with lesser-qualified students, thus keeping
the pipeline full.
Problems For Returnees
The track record of foreign-trained students returning to
Nicaragua is mixed. According to US Embassy reporting, teachers
and other technical/vocational trainees have done relatively
well. Many, especially teachers, have succeeded in obtaining
mid-level government jobs. The reintegration of university-
trained students into Nicaraguan society has proven more
problematic, however. US Embassy sources say some are having
difficulty finding employment even though they were reportedly
promised government posts in their areas of expertise. Others
are frustrated because their education does not quite "fit"
Nicaraguan needs..
While, the ability of opposition groups to capitalize on the
returnees' discontent in the near term remains uncertain, the
frustration of foreign-trained students will cause longer-range
problems for the Sandinistas. The training they received
probably makes many.of them more likely to emigrate than to rally
to the opposition cause. However, friction between domestic- and
foreign-trained cadre--who despite their current woes seem likely
to eventually dominate the bureaucracy--appears certain to
complicate the regime's internal decisionmaking process. The
latter, for example, are likely to strongly urge adoption of
classic Marxist solutions to deal with mounting economic woes.
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