From: jad@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (John DiNardo)
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy,talk.politics.misc,alt.activism,misc.headlines,soc.rights.human,soc.culture.usa,soc.culture.latin-america,alt.society.civil-liberty,alt.censorship
Subject: U.S. Government Launches Covert Militarization of Costa Rica
Keywords: Costa Rica, secret U.S. military operations
Date: 15 Apr 92 20:59:21 GMT
Followup-To: alt.conspiracy
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories


     Thanks to Patricia McRae for making the following transcript 
     from an off-the-air recording of a broadcast by
                WBAI-FM Radio (99.5)
                505 Eighth Ave., 19th fl.
                New York, New York 10018      (212) 279-0707


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ROBERT KNIGHT:
Correspondent Tony Avirgan is speaking with us from San Jose, Costa Rica.
Tony, the United States is assisting Costa Rica, is it not, in certain affairs?

AVIRGAN: Yes. Well, the United States has been, for quite some time, assisting
what is called here Costa Rica's police and security forces, because as you
said, Costa Rica has no army.  This aid increased substantially during
Sandanista rule in neighboring Nicaragua.  And the excuse then was that
the Sandanistas represented some sort of threat.  It diminished slightly when
the Sandanistas lost the elections in Nicaragua, but then rapidly it picked up
again under the umbrella of the "War On Drugs". And there have been several
incidents recently that indicate that the military training is going beyond
what the Costa Rican Government had bargained for, and many officials here in
Costa Rica are upset about the situation.

KNIGHT: What kind of training is taking place?

AVIRGAN: Well, the training is being done by U.S. Army soldiers.  The Costa
Ricans are getting what amounts to the basic training a U.S. soldier gets with
a little bit added on.  And two things that happened that have upset people
here in Costa Rica occurred. The first one occurred late last year when a
busload of American tourists turned onto a small road in a national park in a
dense rain forest and, suddenly, a U.S. soldier with his face painted with
camouflage paint and full combat gear and carrying an M-16 weapon popped out 
of the bushes, challenged the busload of tourists telling them they were not
allowed to proceed further and pointed his weapon at them and told them they
had to turn back.  The tourists and their tour guide were, no doubt, shocked.
They did turn back and reported this to the newspapers when they reached San
Jose, and the National Parks Commission was absolutely furious.  First of all,
there is a very strict law here that no weapons are allowed in National Parks
and, after some investigation, it turned out that the Ministry of Security had
given permission for training of U.S. drug agents in the National Park.  They
had done this without consulting the Ministry of Natural Resources or the
National Parks Commission.  And the other authorities who were responsible for
the parks were absolutely furious, as was the general public, I believe, in
Costa Rica as well.  The latest thing to occur, occurred just last week when
the residents of a small town, some 40 or 50 miles from San Jose reported that
they were afraid because there were loud explosions coming from a farm nearby.
Some of the local newspapers went to investigate and, again, were kept out of
the area by U.S. soldiers.  They asked some of the people in the area what was
going on and found out there was training going on on this farm.  Well, there
is a new Minister of Public Security and he looked into the matter and found
out that what was going on was that Costa Rican security forces, police, were
being trained in the use of heavy anti-aircraft weapons on this farm.  He
immediately made a public statement that he felt this was ridiculous, that
this had gone way beyond what Costa Rica had bargained for; that he didn't see
any reason why police being trained in anti-drug operations should be trained
in the use of heavy weapons.  He said that very often he had seen Costa Rican
police walking around with heavy weapons, things that have no use whatsoever,
in his view, in the fight against drugs here in Costa Rica.  This minister
went and met with officials from the U.S. Embassy last Friday and complained
about the situation, and we'll have to wait and see if any change comes about.
So far, the U.S. Government seems to be going its own way in this matter and
hasn't listened to complaints previously from people here in Costa Rica, but
we'll see what happens now.

KNIGHT: Tony, let me get this straight.  You're saying anti-aircraft weapons
in the course of drug enforcement training?  It appears we have a hair-brained
idea here -- the prospect of shooting down planes under the rubric of 
drug enforcement.

AVIRGAN: Well, I think really what's behind all this is that they're not
really thinking that Costa Rica is going to use these heavy anti-aircraft
weapons in the War on Drugs, though they could find some excuse, a rationale 
to argue  that, yes,  they would need to.  But I think this goes back to the
very old idea to militarize Costa Rica. There was an idea -- really promoted
primarily by Jean Kirkpatrick during the early Reagan years -- to say that 
Costa Rica had to pull its weight in Central America; that if it didn't have 
an army, it was a burden on the other countries that did have an army in the 
so-called fight against communism.  There was a real effort to get Costa Rica 
to create an army and I think that is just happening now, but under the guise 
the War on Drugs.  Not only are the Costa Ricans being trained in the use of
heavy anti-aircraft weapons, but in previous months Costa Rican police have
learned to use mortars, M-50 machine guns, which are big, heavy mounted machine
guns and a lot of weapons that have no use whatsoever in the War on Drugs.  I
mean drug dealers are much more heavily armed in New York than they are here
in Costa Rica.  The drug war hasn't reached that stage here.  There's been no
shoot-outs with drug people.  Costa Rica is used as a transit point for drugs.
Small planes do stop, refuel, reload here at Costa Rica, but they have, up to
now, never been armed.  And there's been no shoot-outs whatsoever.

KNIGHT: Tony, these are most fascinating developments and we will stay close
in touch with you as the attempted militarization of Costa Rica continues.
Any closing notes for us?

AVIRGAN: No, only that I believe that this is happening throughout Latin
America; that Costa Rica is not unique in this regard.  It is a little more
shocking because of the tradition here of not having an army, but I think
throughout Latin America there is a change from CIA/US Army activities which
have somehow come out of style now.  And a lot of..old things are being done
now under the guise of the War on Drugs.  I think this is something we ought
to watch throughout the region.

KNIGHT: Correspondent Tony Avirgan reporting live from San Jose, Costa Rica.
This is UNDERCURRENTS and that concludes our report today..the 26 of August,
1991.

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    posted by John DiNardo for Patricia McRae,
                               t350134@univscvm.csd.scarolina.edu