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fellowships to some of the more talented members of the Panamanian population. They are educated at Soviet universities and indoctrinated with the ideas of Marxism-Leninism. Upon their return they are not employed by private business. Consequently, they go into government or universities to continue to support the leftist positions they were indoctrinated with in Russia. There are some who return vey disappointed with their experience but how they fall into the system after they arrive here is not too well known. Some of them also expressed concern that the United States seemed to be too involved elsewhere to stop the Soviet-Cuban intrusion of this region. They are afraid that might be left high and dry if the US decides to write off this part of the world. Some were also concerned with American rhetoric of a strong anti-communist stand. They felt that it would be much better if we stressed our devotion to pro-democratic forces rather than being negative towards another point of view. They all seemed to be well aware that the communist threat to this region is sophisticated and the communists seemed to know what they are doing in trying to alter the basic strategic and power relations in Central America. Many of the people travel around this region quite frequently and they have many contacts abroad. They could do more to spread a deeper understanding of the communist threat than Americans whose position even if accurate would be regarded as biased. At the present time Panama is one of the few areas of general stability in the region. Costa Rica its neighbor being the other such country. Panama does face problems particularly the lack of strong leadership. The previous regime did not intend to develop any so the current President is a very old man who is generally forced to comply with the consensus of the Cabal which runs the Panamanian National Guard. Among this group are ambitious younger people who are very competitive with each other.

Following this luncheon I had a chance to meet with Ambassador Ellis Briggs who is the son of the the former US Ambassador to Brazil. Briggs came here after serving in IAA under assistant Secretary Tom Enders. Briggs main task is to try to carry through the canal transfer implementation agreement to try to support American business in this region and to try to bring about a greater awareness of the policy the United States

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faces overall. I found him sensitive and well-informed. I saw him again the next day at a luncheon given by William T. Pryce, the DCM, who incidentally, just arrived here from Bolivia where he also served as DCM. One idea that emerged from my discussion with Briggs is that the total U.S. effort in this part of the world is negligible. The Soviet Union spends over 4 1/2 billion dollars, primarily in military and economic aid to Cuba, plus various other activities. The United States spends around 800 million dollars for the entire Latin American region. Briggs suggested that if we even reduced our effort to Israel and Egypt by 10% we would have the means to cope more successfully with the communist intrusion in this part of the world. Getting the government to change its priorities is however a very difficult thing to do. He mentioned, for example, the one time he attended a meeting at the State Department where he represented Enders. The Near Eastern and South Asia Bureau was complaining that they had so much money given to them by Congress that they did not know what to do with it.

Friday, January 7 began with a lecture to the US Army Brigade Command. I was invited to speak by Brigadier General Woerner to senior members of his staff both military and civilian. I gave a general round up of the situation in Central America then stayed on board for about 40 minutes for response to some very good questions. When this was over the decision was made for me to check out of my hotel before luncheon and eventually to depart for the airport following the dinner given in my honor by General and Mrs. Woerner. The second main event of the day was a luncheon given in my honor by William T. Pryce, Deputy Chief of Mission of the US embassy. There were some six Panamanian guests at the luncheon. Ambassador Briggs was there as well as Paul Saxton, the cultural affairs officers, my guide throughout my visit. There were a number of interesting Panamanians there. I talked with some of them before sitting down to luncheon, at which time I sat between H.R. Mayin Correa D., who is the prime TV interviewing personality in Panama. Ambassador Briggs had had an interview with her a few days previously. She was for many years a leading member of the communist party in Panama and attended meetings in Cuba, Moscow and elsewhere. She broke with the movement back in the period of

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68-69 when she was asked to visit Pyongyang in Northern Korea. Ambassador Briggs sat opposite us and we had discussions on a large range of problems including Mexican policy toward Central America. There was also comment on the almost ridiculous difference in the scale of the effort the US is making Central America, its own backyard, compared to the huge investment it has made for years in the Middle East, particularly for Israel and Egypt. There was also discussion of the general indifference of the people of the US to this area. It seems that Latin America is first in our hearts but last in our pocketbooks. Senora Correa, has told me that she had sent her only son to Valley Forge Military Academy at a relatively early age and he had just graduated. Incidentally he has played in the movie Taps which utilized the Valley Forge setting and cadet corps for a recent motion picture. Senora Correa had visited the Philadelphia area many times and was very much impressed by the general beauty of its suburban area.

Prior and during luncheon I also talked with Flor de Maria Montaverde who is the advisor to the President on Panamanian foreign policy relations with the countries of western Europe. She was a rather petite little woman but very intelligent. We exchanged comments regarding her European experiences. She had served in the Panamanian embassy to Bonn as well as to London and travelled considerably in western Europe. The luncheon group discussed new developments in El Salvador. Apparently on of the regional military commanders had mounted a rebellion against the Defense Minister Garcia because he did not wish to be transferred from his command to become the military attaché to Uruguay. (I just checked this out with Ambassador Ed Cerr. I arrived in La Paz, Bolivia some hours ago and he tells me the impasse still continues. It could be a serious matter but they are trying to sort the thing out.) Arrangements had been made for me to meet with a top member ruling the Guardia Nacional Junta in Panama. I was told sometimes these meetings do not always go through. Saxton has set this up through Ricardo J. Duan, President of the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo. Saxton is a member of the board of this museum as is

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Duan who is a well-to-do coffee grower and exporter. Apparently Panamanian coffee is mountain grown like Colombia. Duan has been a friend of the Colonel for some twenty years. Saxton and I went to Duan's residence and waited for some hour and a half before some meeting did take place. Meanwhile we had discussions with both Duan and his charming wife, on a wide range of subjects beginning with the very unusual art collection they had in the room in which we were awanting our meeting. Both Duan and his wife were educated in the States and their children are being educated there now. One girl is trying to find out what school she will go to next year with the number one candidate being Wellesly. While waiting for the National Guard Colonel, who in any other military would be a four star general, we discussed the manner in which I should approach our conversation. I was told that the Colonel would listen very diligently to what I had to say and digest it but I should not expect too much of a playback.

The Colonel was an hour and a half late because he had been engaged in preparations for a meeting that was being held that evening for the Foreign Ministers of Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica. It is interesting to note that he had not yet made up his mind who to bring with him. There was some suggestion that he would bring the foreign minister but it did not work out because of some other engagement. This possibility indicates that the seven or eight Colonels and the General who run the National Guard obviously call the shots in Panama. When the Colonel did arrive, I gave him a fifteen minute rundown on my perceptions of the situation facing Central America and related it to the overall Soviet intrusion operations in other parts of the world.

He then asked me several important questions beginning with my appraisal of how the Soviets will perform now that Andropov is the new leader. I told him we could anticipate a much more adroit and sophisticated but equally tough and ruthless campaign against us. He also asked some questions about the situation in Angola. And wanted to know specifically what the Cuban role was there with respect to maintaining the MPLA in power. The Colonel then began making some very long sustained observations as to how he viewed the general situation as well as the overall US relations for the future. He began

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some of the costs of the military equipment would be born by the US and the US would replace what Panama had furnished. He said that this was six months ago and nothing had happened. I told him I was going to see General Nutting later and I would make a point of telling him about this. He then commented on the fact that this was an example of how the US does not appear to take its involvement in the region seriously or to be overly concerned on how it works out practical details with the countries of the region, particularly Panama. I countered that there are 60-100 countries in the world in which we have comparable relations and that the organizational structure in Washington while doing the best it can to keep track of all these arrangements, etc. does not always establish the best priorities nor does it always follow through their execution meticulously. In response he said that we may have these problems with quite a few countries but 'only one has a canal.'

I found the Colonel to be a very intelligent, well-informed individual with a very positive and pleasant personality. I think he understands the situation and wants to see things work out better, He regards the US-Panama relations a marriage and he wants to make it certain that it as happy and productive a marriage as possible. He is well aware of the fact that if the Soviet threat to Central America is not stopped the Panamanian hope to acquire the canal in full by the year 2000 might be seriously jeopardized.
As he was leaving he again pointed out that I should raise seriously the subject of the US assistance to the Costa Rica police force with General Nutting.

Around seven o'clock in the evening we arrived at General Nutting's headquarters. Along with General Nutting was Ambassador George Roberts the former US Ambassador to Guyana who I had known before he was the POLAD. Along with Saxton I reported on our meeting with the Colonel. I reported specifically on the matter of helping the Costa Rican police. Nutting said that this was not an accurate accounting. We were prohibited by an act of Congress some years ago from assisting in any foreign police training. We are trying to have the ban lifted because of the peculiar circumstances of Costa Rica. But so far we can not do it. Secondly, as of now we do not have the funding to support the Panamanian effort to help Costa Rica. Though the General did say there was some two million dollars

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with the observation that he believed that the Soviet Union was doing much better
than we were in coordinating its policies and in advancing its programs and influence.
He discussed at greatlength the failure of the US to seize the opportunity that existed
in Nicaragua immediately after the Sandinistas came into power, when the Cuban influence
in the country was not as strong as it subsequently became. He regarded this as a
major failure on our part.

The Colonel also spent a good deal of time analyzing the mistakes of the Somoza
regime, particularly its inflexible method of dealing with the opposition driving them
into the underground and into ... active resistance to the regime. He in-
dicated thats what they are trying to do in Panama where they permit the communists to
register to vote. This way they keep track of what they are trying to do. He said
that Samoza and our close relationship with him was one of the major assets the communists
had in Central America.

The Colonel also commented on the fact that he did not believe that the US was
doing enough fo the countries of the region and not taking practical steps where they were
justified. In this connection he mentioned the failure to increase the Panamanian
sugar quota and also the difficulties that are being experienced with United Fruit
over the export of bananas to the United States.

The Colonel devoted a great deal of time to the situation in Costa Rica which is on
Panama's northern border. The people there are concerned over their own security. Costa
Rica has no army per-se. It has a police force which has quasi-military functions. The
Costa Rican police force is not as well trained as it should be and lacks important
equipment vehicles, communications gear, etc. He mentioned that some six months ago
he had discussed with General Nutting the US commander, Cinc South, a three star army
General, what might be done to alleviate this. The Colonel said an agreement had been
reached that the Panamanians would undertake training activities for the Costa Rica
police and furnish them with some equipment. The costs of some of the training as well as

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for some form of military assistance to Costa Rica in the Caribbean Development Initiative. He also said that we have not been able to supply Panama with military assistance which we had agreed to do within the terms of the canal treaty. The reason for this being the reluctance of some congressmen, who had opposed the treaty, to back certain implementation measures. Most of our conversation, however was spent on reviewing the general state of affairs in the region which we all agreed were not going in a direction favorable to US interests. We tried to analyze the cause. There is opposition in Congress and the US media as well as the lack of an integrated approach to the problems within the government. Nutting believes, as I do, that we are in fact engaged in Central America in the real war. He pointed out that he cost of modernizing the battleship New Jersey was exactly the same as the 350 million dollars allocated to the Caribbean Basin. Both Nutting and previously Briggs noted the Soviet investment of 3 billion a year to keep Cuba alive plus 1 1/2 billion in arms to go to Cuba which are funnelled through Cuba for various activities throughout the region. This compare with a total US effort of somewhere around 800 million for the whole region including all of Latin America. Nutting pointed out that he tries to get the US public acquainted with the threat. For example in the last few years there have been some 20 Soviet embassies opened up in countries of Latin America. Nutting writes periodically to the Secretary of Defense and the powers that be in Washington, but so far he has been unable to get them to view the developments of Central America with the degree of concern or seriousness that the Cuban. Soviet threat to the region justifies.

From General Nutting's headquarters we went over to the residential quarters of Brigadier General Fred F. Woerner, who is the commander of the 193 infantry brigade. There I attended a dinner along with the Saxtons, the Colonel's wife, and others who were involved with the military assistance program in Latin America, including Gonzelo de la Reza, President of the American Chamber of Commerce who arranged my first breakfast meeting. It turned out Woerner's wife was from Bolivia and had moved up to New York

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in 1952 following the major revolution of that year. Her family's properties were expropriated and she never returned. Reza was also from Bolivia and a first cousin of Mrs. Woerner. Reza's wife was also a Bolivian so they gave me tips about the country I was to fly to during the night. We exchanged many views regarding Panama and problems in the region which lasted to 12:15 AM when I was taken to the airport by the General's protocol man. I got on the plane to a rather long, tiring flight to La Paz with two stops on the way; one in Equador and one in Peru.

## Bolivia

This is Sunday afternoon January 9 where I am speaking at the residence of Ed Corr. Yesterday I took several hours of rest before having dinner with Edd COrr and Jim Westbury who is an advisor to the comptroller-generals of a number of countries in Latin America. Upon his return from this trip Westbury is going to be a member of the GAO staff in Washington. He has had considerable service in Latin America and we had a good overall conversion on problems of the region. I had also discussed these at great length with Ed Corr before we sat down to dinner. After dinner we watched a rather interesting TV film on Largo Titicaca. This film reviewed many of the ancient Inca ruins as well as the Inca's legends. The Incas were supposed descendants of the sun gods and ruled a very considerable empire from around 1200-1525, the year the Spaniards arrived in this part of the world.

This morning, Ed Corr and a Bolivian member of the staff, who happened to be a geologist, and I drove up to the so called Alto Plano which is a plateau area some 12-14 thousand feet high. The Ambassador's residence was located at 10,500 feet. We went to see the highly developed historical center known as Tiahuananaco. This was developed between roughly 300 and 900 AD and there are some very extensive ruins still located there. This area was taken over about 1200 by Quechuan speaking Incas, who founded one of history's leading imperial dynasties. Also we drove through a various number of villages and saw flocks of sheep, llamas and other animals found in that part of the world. There are no trees on these planes

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On the eastern side however, there are some very high mountains going up to about 20,000 feet which are still covered with snow even though my visit was in the midst of summer. When we returned from our trip there was a political crisis in the government so Ambassador Corr had to go back to the embassy to analyse the developments with members of his staff so that he could send a cable informing the USG of what had taken place.

I just completed a luncheon given in my honor by Ambassador Corr for a group of extremely interesting Bolivians. One of the people I talked to was Gonzola Sanchez de Lozada. His father was in the States when he was born and he spent the first twenty years of his life there. In fact he now has a Gringo accent when he speaks in Spanish. De Lozada, a MNR Deputy, was very active during the discussions we had prior to sitting down to lunch. In particular, he raised the question when and where the US would draw the line. He asked why the Soviet Union without great wealth is doing so well militarily and expanding its influence around the world. When we sat down to lunch, he told me that he was referring specifically to the fact that the US did not tell the new Bolivian President Silles not to have any communists in the government. As of that date there are two; the Minister of Mines and the Minister of Labor. The Minister of Mines also controls the Bolivian Cartel which runs the oil industry. Between the two of them these communists now have control of the large part of the Bolivian economy. He contends that for the time being the communists will be very cooperative with the present regime which incidentally is dealing with a major defection of the MNR from the ruling coalition. He believes that the communists plan to make the state owned major industries which they now control, increasingly inefficient even though they do not make money now. One does not know, for example, what the cost to drill for new oil might be. At the same time they have put through new arrangements which will increase the cost of the labor force without increasing the productivity whatsoever. Lozada believes that the communists will not be in the government for too long but when they leave, they will have twisted the economic structure so much that there will be no way of improving it. Then when things go really bad they can increase their role in the government. As it happens Lozada is a personal friend of Silles, the President,

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LCJ

but he is not absolutely certain why the President brought the two communists into the regime-except for the split in the more important parties. I was told by others that Lozada is very wealthy and that he made a lot of money as a result of the nationalization of Gulf Oil holdings in Bolivia. I also talked with Senator Victor Andrade, an older man who looked much like Sitting Bull. He served as Bolivian Ambassador to the US from 1944, shortly before Roosevelt's death until shortly before Kennedy's assassination. He is an interesting fellow and pretty much on the ball. He is concerned with the orientation of the people toward the communist side. For example, he mentioned a deputy of one ministry who spoke on TV and openly stated that his wife and two daughters were now living in Cuba (where his daughters are studying) because he does not want them to be corrupted by the United States.

When luncheon was completed I went to the embassy with the Ambassador and talked with one of the key assistants, Jim Atkins. He told me that one of his major concerns was the possibility of the Golpe sponsored by the right wing fraction of the Bolivian military with the support and encouragement of Argentinians.

Following that meeting I met with about 20 members of the staff and discussed with them the situation in Central America, and its implications for Bolivia.

This evening I attended a dinner given by the DCM William Walker. There was a very interesting group of people at the dinner given by the DCM. Before dinner I sat down with Carlos Serrate who was the Bolivian Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1977-1980. He is now owner and editor of Hoy, a newspaper in La Paz. While in Moscow he had many contacts with the Soviet foreign ministry as well as with the director of the Soviet Institute for Latin America, a man named Volsky. He also got to know very well Sergei Mykoyan, who is editor of the Latynska America. When he first met Volsky, Volsky told him that an encyclopedia in Russian for Latin America was being developed and that the section on Bolivia was being written by two Bolivian communist exiles living in Moscow; one of them being Felipe Iliginze. Another Bolivian communist there in exile in Moscow also contributed to it. The encyclopedia has finally been written in Russian and Carlos Serrate now has two copies of it. He mentioned that he did have contact with the foreign

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ministry. He said, however, that the real operations of the communists in Latin America is elsewhere being conducted by the Communist Party so he was never able to meet the director of the Party's Latin American operations. He knew, however, that many of the Bolivian communists that he knew had contact with him. He suspects that the Russian individual who coordinates their activities in Bolivia visits here three or four times a year, each time with a different passport, so that he can not be easily identified. He seemed to be quite aware of what the communists are up to in Bolivia. He said they are in no great hurry. They do have a very accurate and precise understanding of the local situation. He is concerned as were others, that two members of the present administration of Presidente Silles Zuazo are members of the Communist Party. He also mentioned that Felipe Iliguez has returned to Bolivia and is with the coordination council that has important roles with respect to the Bolivian universities. The faculty at the University of Bolivia were almost entirely marxist if not communists. Serrate suggested on my return that I get a book on Latin America by Cole Blasner. (published by the University of Pittsburgh)

Serrate mentioned that one of the major advantages the Soviets have over us in the conduct of operations in the underdeveloped world is the fact that they give scholarships to many of the bright members of poor families who would otherwise not receive an education. No matter what field they go into whether it be medicine or engineering they receive a steady daily dose of communist indoctrination on Marxist theory, the problems of Leninism, etc. And as there is no opposition point of view presented and as they are generally young people right out of high school, they return to their own countries convinced of the absolute scientific truthfulness of Marxist-Leninism and spend the rest of their lives trying to bring the communist party to power in their own countries. He estimated that depending on the size and importance of the country, at least 50-100 go there to be trained a year and normally stay there for five years. All of their expenses are paid for by the Soviet Union including the flight over and the return trip. Many of them return and can not find employment in the private sector so they go into the

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government or into the Universities and thus compound the problem. He said that he has no illusions of the Soviets. They aim to become the dominant world power and that they go about it in a very systematic and persistent fashion.

At dinner I sat down at the same table with Antonio Sanchez de Lozada who is the Bolivian national controller and who also occupies an important position in government control to tin mining industry. (I believe he is the brother of Gonzalo) He was educated in the States, in fact, he lived there for many years and is also accused of speaking with a Gringo accent. He was well-read, articulate and informed individual. Among other things we discussed were the problems of living at very high altitudes. Some of the tin mines are at altitudes of 16-17 thousand feet. In particular he mentioned the explosive growth of red corpuscles in the circulation system which if detected in time must be dealt with by bringing the individual down to much lower altitudes and never returning him to the high altitudes of the tin mines.

Following dinner I sat down with Fernando Illanes, President of the Confederation of Bolivian Business Men. He was educated in the States, although at one time he wanted to be an opera singer and studied in Germany. He was the owner of a plastic company which has four or five factories, two of them in La Paz. We discussed at great length the predilection of Bolivia for state run industries even though the industries themselves are run very inefficiently. Until the 1952 revolution, Bolivia was dominated by 3 major tin mining companies, including one run by Patino. The government essentially was power-less. A major shift came with the 1952 revolution which established the Nationalists revolutionary movement (NMR). NMR introduced radical measures and nationalized the tin mining industries and places them under a state run organization, called ComiBol.

The NMR stayed in power until 1964 when it ran out of steam. During its reign however, powerful mining unions were established (under communist leadership) even though the communists were unable to obtain many votes in various elections held during the course of the last 30 years. No matter what kind of government is in power, left, right, military or civilian, the state controlled enterprises have remained sacrosanct. The Bolivian

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miners are the third highest paid people in the country. It is said that formerly
Bolivia lived off of its miners. Now the miners live off of Bolivia. Illiez does not
believe that there is much chance of expanding the private sector although the present
government has guaranteed that it will not expand its present position which controls
about 70% of the economy. He mentioned one state-owned company that does everything from
making ice cream to bicycles and run stores which could probably be run better by private
individuals.

While I was talking with Illanes, Alcides Alvardo who was in the Chamber of Deputies
in International Relations and a member of the UDP-NMRI party, came along and asked to
speak with me. (I was told by Illanes that he was a very close advisor to the President)
He did not speak English so I used an interpreter. The first question he asked me
was my suggestions about how a civilian regime established after a long period of military
governemnt should seek long range stability which could reduce the chance for a military
takeover in the future. I suggested that he study the pattern established by other
countries which have been successful in doing this. I cited the success of Venezuela
when a civilian government was established there in 1959. I commented on the very slow
return of civilian rule in Brazil and mentioned my experiences in Thailand where a
civilian government took over after many years of military domination. I suggested that
the main task was to not completely squash the military or discourage them to do their
job as professionals but they should discourage their personal participation in politics.
The military should be able to vote but they should not run for office or actively campaign.
(From the many other discussions here people believe that the Bolivian government proves to
be, ineffective, both politically and economically, they may seek to return to power) The
next question Alardo asked me was any ideas regarding development. I asked him whether he
was referring to political or economic development. He said both. I advanced two keys as
necessary for political stability and at the same time the encouragement of a better
balanced economy, i.e. a better mix of state-run industry (which in Bolivia are grossly
inefficient) and private business. I mentioned in particular that as new economic

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areas come into being such as petro-chemicals or perhaps even electronics they should
be under the auspices of the private sector. Under such a policy the government could
control what it now has but there would be no need for it to take over what might be
best developed by private initiative. These ideas were not too well received.

I then suggested that Bolivia might turn over one or two of the least productive
and least profitable mines to a private consortium on a trial basis of five to ten years
and see whether or not under private direction there can be greater competition introduced into
the mines run by the government. Alvardo said that this was impossible as it would
be rejected by the miners.

I then made another suggestion: they should send a sizeable team to the Republic of China on Taiwan to see how the Taiwanese combined government and private business in a very effective way. I mentioned for example that there is at least a nine billion dollar a year trade with the US and Taiwan. The delegation could be composed of miners, union leaders, businessmen, politicians, what have you. I mentioned that Taiwan would be happy to host such a survey team as they want to retain the diplomatic relations they have with Bolivia. I told him that I did not care what private-state mix that they have, however, Bolivia is not doing very well economically and it might be very useful for them to see how business activity and economic growth was obtained in another country that was enjoying economic and political success.

This morning January 11, I was taken to the headquarters of the Bolivian armed forces.
There I talked to about 50-60 members of the general staff as well as two military commanders
from the La Paz area. Ambassador Corr was also present at this lecture. I stressed the
unique role of the Bolivian armed forces bringing about the independence of their country,
just as the Continental Army under George Washington did for ours. I then briefly
reviewed Soviet strategy both in developments of military power and intrusive tactics
around the world then homed in on Central America. In closing I made some points on the disaster
that often happen when the military takeover the political authority even in communist
controlled areas such as Poland and the PRC during the Cultural Revolution. I suggested

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that the Bolivian army in the future would become an instrument of political authority rather than try to usurp the political authority itself. I stressed professionalism, nation-building and civic action. The question period lasted about an hour and I had some penetrating questions, and criticisms. There was concern expressed that the US was not doing very well in the Caribbean or elsewhere in checking communist intrusion. We haven't done too well in military takeovers in Latin America. The cases of Bolivia and Peru were cited. One general after giving a very acute review of the situation in El Salvador, blamed the insurgency there on the existence of wide spread hunger, overlooking the fact that I had stressed in my talk that spontaneity was rarely apparent in insurgency activity and that the communist insurgents followed Lenin's advise to lead and promote the revolutionary actions. This same officer stated that the real trouble with the developing world was the big capitalist countries do not pay enough for the raw materials both mineral and agricultural that come from the developing world and force these countries to pay exorbitant prices for the goods that they ship them. I told them that this situation was recognized and that steps were being taken to compensate for it but the issues of international trade are extremely complicated. I also mentioned that until the overall world economy improves (that is until it recovers from the massive transfer of capital brought about by the OPEC price heist for oil) that it would be difficult to pay higher prices for basic commodities such as tin, because there is very depressed demand for such commodities. I believe I had a very frank discussion with the senior Bolivian army and air force officers. I should add that the American human rights policy was raised by an airforce officer. I told him that it is not an American problem but a worldwide problem. The greatest human right a person can have is the freedom to use his own body and mind.

I just returned for a lunch given for me at the residence of the Press attache Stan Sheppard, at which there were a number of people from the press in La Paz. The ex-information minister, Senora Anna Maria Kamparo as well as Mr. Carlos Amerio, director of Hoy newspaper and Senor Jame Borba Kamparo, editor of Criterio magazine and the Rev.

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Padre Jose Grammunt otherwise known as "Pepe", a jesuit priest who also operates Radio Fides and the DCM William Walker was also there. They all suggested that the press had played a major role in the disintegration of the military regime and promoting the new government that came to power last October. The press had difficulties--they had to import about 80% of their production costs: newsprint, ink, and that kind of thing. Cost of production is higher than the newstand sale price. They aren't able to keep many full time journalists and many moonlight on other jobs. The press is relatively small as far as circulation. 60% of the Bolivian people are functional illiterates who forget how to read after they ahve learned because generally they have nothing to read or have no electricity to read by at night time. While the printed media plays an important role TV is in its infancy. After luncheon I was interviewed for a radio program by a Dr. Henri Porter Camparo and the Reverend Padre Jose Grammunt. A number of the questions related to my general impressions of Bolivia. This is my last formal meeting in La Paz. Tomorrow morning I will be flying to Santa Cruz.

This evening before having a family meal with the Corrs we had a visit from several Bolivians that informed us that at today's meeting of non-aligned nations in Nicaragua that Boliva had decided to recognize Cuba. This seemed part of a pattern. The left of center Bolivian regime is moving more and more into the non-aligned camp and with the communist world. There have been meetings here with North Koreans, the PRC and Libya and the PLO. Furthermore the Bolivian government has hardly said anything in support of the general western position on the condemnation of Soviet action in Afghanistan or support for Israel. Does Bolivia intend to move all the way in this direction? Should the US make any move to stop it? How important strategically is Bolivia? I was told about a study which suggests that Bolivia bordering on other adjacent countries such as Chile, Peru, Brazil and Argentina is the heartland of Andean America. I doubt however that this is true. Bolivia is very underpopulated, almost inaccessible. An neither Brazil nor the Argentine would tolerate a Cuban-style Soviet supported communist base in Bolivia. On the other hand, Argentina does appear to be moving closer to the Soviet Union in terms of

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trade and military assistance and there is the possibility that if the Peronists should
come into power in Argentina there will be a further anti-American push which might lead
Argentina to an embrace of the Soviet Union. (This is all pure "spec")

On Wednesday, January 12, I flew down to Santa Cruz with Mr. Walker the DCM, James Myer, the PAO and Paul Mariaca who was my translator. Mariaca had been the DCM twice for Bolivia in Washington and was a very interesting individual, very well read, excellent interpreter and fully committed to democratic values. We were met at the airport by the director of the Binational station, Walter Callau and then taken to the Holiday Inn hotel. We were first taken to the station where we were given an interview by the University TV station and also conducted interviews for Radio Expectator and Radio Amboro at the Binational Center. A lunch was hosted for me by the PAO with a small group of businessmen, professional political leaders and a very attractive local resident.

I sat beside Mario Andrade, whose father had been the American Ambassador to the United States for many years. Young Mario had been in the employment of the Gulf Oil Corporation for about a dozen years in East Asia and was now working in the energy field in the Santa Cruz region. He impressed me as a very bright individual and was very concerned with the future of his country. My trip was ended there as far as speaking goes by a formal lecture given on the current situation in Central America, and its implications for the rest of the Americas. This was sponsored by the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce and Industry. There were some 60 people at the lecture, many of whom listened by simultaneous translation using small individual radio translator sets provided by the American embassy. I believe the discussion was very useful. Following my talk and the President of the Chamber of Commerce personally expressed his gratitude that a person with some credentials took the time and effort to come down to Bolivia to show the concern of the American people for his country. We then took off the next morning for La Paz and changed planes there to go through to Santiago.

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Chile

This is Friday afternoon, January 14. I am making my first report in Chile from the Holiday Inn. I arrived here yesterday around two o'clock on a flight from Santa Cruz to La Paz to Santiago. The day began at 5:00PM and had a good flight up to La Paz. There Ed Corr met me and we spent a final hour together reviewing the situation in Bolivia which is extremely complicated, with the trend in the government being very much against us, particularly, since the recognition of Cuba. From there we flew to Arica, a town almost on the Peruvian border which is one of the ports used by Bolivia. This territory, in fact, the Northern third of Chile was taken from Bolivia in a war in the 19th century. We went through immigration there. It took over an hour and a half to pass through this process. The only reason given for this delay was that the Chilean government which dislikes Bolivia wants to make it as difficult as possible for people coming from Bolivia to enter Chile. I was met at the airport in Santiago by Guy Burton, the Cultural Affairs Officer and taken to my hotel.

The program began today with a visit to the US embassy where I first met Mr. Friedman Public Affairs Officer and them Mr. Micheal Durkee, Political Counselor. I did not meet the economic counselor, Mr. Whitney as he had to report on a major economic development. Today the government took over five banks and closed down two others and closed all the banks in the country for this day. The banks are anticipated to be reopened on Monday. Presumably there has been a lot of mismanagement of the banks but not outright corruption. In general the people support the government for the decisive action even though it will rattle the economy for some time. I had a very good briefing from the political counselor who is well informed and with an excellent mind. We covered almost every aspect of Chilean internal politics, their external relations, their concerns with other areas of Latin America and with the training assistance they are giving to the government of El Salvador.
Chile has no diplomatic relations with the Mexican government and essentially has hostile relations with all its neighbors, including Peru, Argentina and Bolivia. During the Falkland Island Crisis Peru sided openly with the Argentine and gave them some of its fighters and spare parts. Chile is concerned about the developments in Argentina and

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concerned about a Peruvian-Argentinian conflict against them. There is some evidence
that the arrangements between Argentina and Peru during the Falkland Island Crisis were
carried out by the military without the authorization of the President Belaunde.

From there we went to the Political Science department at the Catholic University
of Chile. There I met with about 10 political scientists under the director of Sergio
Dutelers La Ramrez. He and three other members of the faculty which met a luncheon
were graduates of Georgetown University which got me off to a good start. We had a most
enriching and wide ranging discussion on both internal and external matters. One of them
expressed a great concern about the general trends of development in Bolivia and suggested
in the event that the government goes all the way to the left and becomes a communist
regime that Bolivia could become a base of guerilla operations against Chile and other
countries centering on Bolivia. Most everyone in the group there were trained in
American universities; Princeton as well as Georgetown. All spoke fluent English and the
exchange was very pleasant. In view of the political isolation of Chile, I believe
a visit of this kind is most helpful in giving them a point of contact with the outside
world. In connection, I discussed with them the poor image Chile has in the outside
world because of the tough measures adopted after the downfall of Allende for a few years
as well as the recurrence form time to time of internal crack-downs which give Chile
a bad press on the outside. They stated at the present time that the President of the
Chilean government believes that it is more essential to preserve internal stability
than to try to court the favor of the outside world. They all believe that the ability
to maintain internal stability has reached the point where few coersive means must be
employed.

On the other hand there is the conviction that the National Information Center which
is a type of secret police operation above the normal police activities and does commit
excessive acts. But in consequence by its activities and image the NIC makes a contribution
to internal order if not to internal stability. Those I was with also expressed concern that
the government should soon begin to outline some of the steps it will take to make a

C

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transition from a military regime to an elected government by 1989. (the goal set by the
referendum supporting the new constitution in 1981.) However, they believe that the
government is concentrating first on restoring economic growth (now negative-a drop of
15% in total product this past year) as its first priority and once this is accomplished
the government will turn the phasing and movement toward free elections so that they
might take place as scheduled.

Yesterday evening I attended dinner given in my honor by Ambassador James D. Theberge.
There were a number of distinguished members of Chilean society including a former
ex-Ambassador to the United States and a former ex-Ambassador to the Argentine. There
were also present several of the people I met at lunch. We had a general conversation at
cocktails. At the close of dinner Ambassador Theberge toasted me following which we had
a general discussion on the overall problems facing Latin America on the whole and Chile
in particular. A critical matter raised was the very poor Chilean relations with the
Argentine which were exasperated by Peruvian Argentinian collusion during the height of the
Falkland Island Crisis. One of the persons I talked with at considerable length was the
director of multilateral policy, Chilean ministry of foreign affairs, who deals with the
UN, the OAS and other multilateral institutions. His name was Claudaricio Figarroa.
Here as my other ports of call where was considerable concern that the US was not caring
enough in her policy toward Latin America. There was some uncertainty as to what US
policy was or whether we will be able to frustrate the Soviet-Cuban intrusion into this
region. This of course is a chilling thought for the Chilean people who had decisively
blocked the Allende endeavor to impose a Marxist regime in this country. Chile would
be target number one if the Soviet-Cuban intrusion into the Caribbean-Central America
succeeds and subsequently the rest of Latin America would swing into the Soviet camp.

This is Saturday January 15. I was picked up at 1:00 to go to Ambassador Theberge's
residence and there I had a pleasant swim and met a guest of Theberge whom he had known
at Oxford, a Canadian business man named Refor and also Jim's charming wife Giselle,
originally a citizen of the Argentine. Jim and I had lunch together so we might review

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the situation in Washington. Unless we are determined to topple the Sandinist regime (there is plenty of internal support for such a determination) the spillover of the Sandinistas to the adjacent countries in Central America will result in massive defeat for the United States. He also told me that the top people in Washington realize that our foreign policy is not doing too well in many areas including Latin America.

Jim was also concerned about the impact of the financial crisis in Chile, on Chile's international position. Chile was planning to borrow money from the New York banks but under the present crisis these banks will lose some of the asserts they now have invested in Chile. The sense of timing was incredibly bad since no preliminary discussions were held with the banks of New York.

This afternoon Guy Burton the cultural affairs officer took me up to the top of Metropolitan Park which is at San Cristabal Hill which rises to a height of 945 feet over the city. This is a very beautiful developed area with many parks, picinic areas, and some very large swimming pools. There is a large statue of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception which stands at the top of the hill as a symbol of Santiago. We also visited a wine tasting station at the top of the hill where all the wines of Chile which are quite good are on display. On the way to two of the museums we stopped to take a look at one of the metro stations in Santiago. The metro was built by the French and was completed several years ago. The station I visited was clean and the trains seemed to be attractive and well run. We next visited a museum dedicated to showing pre-Columbian art, not only from Chile but also from Latin and South America and North America including Mexico. There were some outstanding collections of the statuary and pottery of the various Indian civilizations that developed in this hemisphere, some of them dating back before Christ. We also visited the National Historic Museum which showed the portraits of famous Chilean personalities and personal effects and furniture and weapons were also exhibited.

This is Monday January 17 and before going to the embassy I would like to report briefly on yesterday's trip to the port city of Valparaiso. Guy Burton took me down on a toll road with tunnels through the mountains. The area was very reminiscent of Cal-

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ifornia; dry but with occasional irrigation showing orchards and other agricultural activities. Valparaiso and Vina have a combined population of about 500,000. It was until recently the number one port of Chile before the arrival of a container cargo system; it is now number three. During the recent import Bonanza, the port was extremely busy. Yesterday there was only one ship at one of eight docks. Upon arrival I was taken to the residence of James O'Callaghan who is a USIA officer and director of the Chilean Institute of Arte Americana de Cultura. I had lunch with him and his wife Giovona who is a very charming person and Italian by birth. She came to the USA with her family at the age of fourteen and moved to Seattle and met Jim at the University of Washington.

We had lunch together at a very charming home overlooking the harbor. Their three sons had dinner with us. Afterwards they took me on a tour of both cities. The coastal area is somewhat reminiscent of the coastal area of the Cote D'Azur in France with many buildings coming right down to the edge of the water bordering the beaches. The beaches were all crowded as were the roads and sidewalks. Apparently this is the major resort area for the people of Santiago. After touring Vina we went to Valparaiso and visited an annual fair where there were stands selling items from all over Chile as well as from other parts of Latin America. With Giovona as my purchasing agent I bought some copper. I also had Chilean ice cream which was good but not as rich as our own. We also visited an art gallery going up there by ascensor which is a type of an inclined plane. We had numerous interesting discussions on different subjects. The O'Callaghans will return to the States next August and I hope that I will meet with them again. Burton picked me up at around 8:00PM and we returned to Santiago at 10:30. There was quite a lot of traffic as the vehicles were compressed into two lanes. Early in his career Burton was a champion fencer and fencing teacher and we spent a good deal of our time on the road discussing the intricacies of this fascinating sport.

This morning January 17 I went to the embassy by taxi and attended two briefings. One given by the economic officer who gave a very interesting account of the implications of the present financial crisis in Chile. He also gave me a copy of his 1983 economic forecast

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of his own predictions of what is likely to occur here in the future. I subsequently met with the Chief of Station, and discussed with him the political situation in Peru. Apparently there is a highly well organized group of guerilla forces on the Andean slope toward Brazil which the Peruvian police have not been able to handle. Their rhetoric is Marxist but they do not receive a great deal of outside aid. Perhaps it is not needed. Apparently the Peruvian army will have to intervene and whether or not they succeed is problematical. Peru is still dependant on the Soviets for military aid and military equipment. They receive it at a very low price.

As to the internal situation in Chile there has been considerable increase in terrorist's tactics but these are only capable of keeping the pot boiling. They are no threat to the government. If however the economic situation deteriorates and the opposition forces become more than just an irritant the Chilean government may resort to some of the stronger medicine employed in the past such as; the use of torture as well as more aggressive and obnoxious political suppression.

From the embassy I went to the Institute Des Etudes Internationales and there had lunch with a group of four members of the Institute. Unfortunately as this is the beginning of vacation season some of the people I was going to meet were not there. And in addition the director of the Institute was on a visit to the PRC indicating some Chilean interest in the Pacific community concept. Among other things we talked about considerable Chilean concern of Peru and the Argentine teaming up against Chile in some future conflicts. Present at our luncheon was the military retired general who was the first director of this university after the Allende collapse. One point that he made was that the breakoff of personal training between the US and the senior army and navy officers was a most unfortunate factor as these contacts were extremely usefule in developing a sense of cohesion between the US and Chilean militaries. The Chileans were concerned about whether or not we would ever give them accreditation that they would be able to receive military assistance. A key point made by one of the commentators was that the decline of US mortgage rates leading to the revival of the US home building industry would probably be the best

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thing that ever happened to Chile as the amount of copper that goes into a simple house is
rather considerable. And this would lift the present low price of copper running around
80¢ a pound to $1.10-$1.20. Then many of the economic problems of Chile would be resoved.
With that resolution would come a restored political stability and renewed confidence
in the Chilean government in its promise to return to deomocracy.

Last night I attended a cocktail party given by the PAO, Eugene Friedman for a
number of the leading commentators on International affairs for Chilean newspapers and mag-
azines as well as for the TV and radio. They were a very distinguished group and we had
a stimulating conversation. I presented a general overall view of the world situation.
Much of the current struggle is over on what value system that future world order will be
organized. After the guests left I talked for some time with Friedman and Burton regarding
the Chilean public image. Friedman believes despite the many flaws of the Pinochet
regime that Chile was getting a bum rap on the international stage as far as PR goes. Perhaps
if this were recognized by the government they could hire a PR firm and over time improve their
image. As thing now stand they feel isolated, separated from most of the world and are
uncomfortable with that condition but do not know what to do about it.

This morning I met with Emilio Meneses who is a professor at Catholic University
who won several years ago a masters degree at Georgetown University. He is the son of
a former large landowner and has himself tried farming. He spent some time in jail
during the Allende years. He wishes, in the future, to obtain his doctor's degree at
Georgetown University. He is a member of a young group of Chileanians who are concerned
about the future security of their country and have been in particular concerned about the
Peruvian-Argentinian strategic collusion. Some years ago he wrote an article which appeared
in El Mecurio on January 31, 1982 about Chilean strategy in the South Pacific area. He
is concerned that there will be a war (50% probability) between the Argentine and Chile over
who is to have control of the Straits of Magellan. As of now the Argentine has the eastern
portion and Chile most of the western portion. He believes that the Argentine is embarked
on a course of manifest destiny and if it gains control of the straits that it will be

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both a Pacific and Atlantic power and Chile will be reduced to the status of the satellite.

He believes that there are four things that might be done to strengthen Chilean security without necessarily forming a comprehensive formal alliance with the US. The first is to improve US access to the Easter Island, in addition to a US space tracking center, some form of US surveillance of the military in that region might be established. Meneses believes that the large Typhoon class Soviet submarines are likely to be deployed in the region to strike to US from the Southwest. His other idea was to have a US sonar system established in the Drake area of the Straits of Magellan. This would enable us to keep track of Soviet submarines in that part of the world. Thirdly, he believes that the Chileans need the long range strategic intervention capabilities much like the British employed in the Falkland Islands. Such capabilities would be essential should there be a confrontation with the Argentines. The Chileans would be able to strike first against many areas within the Argentine. He concluded by saying that the Chilean air force needs a long range bombing capability, a better air lift capability as well as an air refueling capability. Obviously if we moved in this direction we would be making a choice between Chile and the Argentine. Yet as things now stand Argentine next to Brazil will always be the strongest military power in this part of the world. He did concede that if the OAS were again to become a more cohesive organization it might be possible for it to forestall territorial changes by the use of force.

After this meeting I attended a round table discussion with professors of political science of the University of Chile. In the audience were the Ambassadors to Chile from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The audience was also filled with other interesting personel and government officials. We had a stimulating discussion over the conflicts in Central America and what might be done to block further Soviet-Cuban intrusion in that region. This ended my USIA trip to Latin America.

After that talk I had lunch with Guy Burton in an attractive Italian restaurant here in Santiago. I might add that most of the food in Chile that I tried was not very tasty. The Chileans in a way are a lot more backward than their neighbors across the mountains, the Argentines. I will prepare for take off at 8:30PM this evening to go to the airport to wing my way to Miami, back to Los Estados Unidos.

Mikos Fabersunne
1040 37th Street
Sacramento, CA 95816

Dr. Henry Kissinger
1800 K Street
Washington, D.C. 20006

September 11, 1983

Dear Dr. Kissinger:

On July 26 during our flight together on the plane between Washington D.C. and St. Louis I spoke with you about Nicaragua and current U.S. foreign policy in Central America. I had just returned from a two week study tour of Nicaragua and had travelled to Washington where I met with Congressional members to share my observations in light of the upcoming vote on the Boland-Zablocki bill.

As you requested I am enclosing a statement about my experiences in Nicaragua and my opinions about U.S. foreign policy there. I trust you will read it carefully and give consideration to the fact that my observations and opinions are shared by many in the tour group.

I am very encouraged with the recent actions of nine Latin American countries who have developed a peace plan for Central America. I think it is significant that the foreign ministers of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua have all endorsed the plan. I hope that the Reagan administration will support this effort and respect the sovereignty of these nations. Your support for this effort would be especially beneficial.

Before closing I am compelled to add some comments about past and present United States foreign policy in Central America. It is becoming embarrassingly clear to many citizens of this country that the United States has been acting in contradiction to the principles of justice, liberty, and respect for human dignity for decades in Central America. The arrogance of the foreign policy advocated by Jeanne Kirkpatrick, the passion of the romance between the U.S. and the military dictators of the region whose only claim to democracy is a thin veneer of anti-Communist rhetoric, and the active efforts of the United States (via the C.I.A.) to illegally overthrow socialist governments all show how "ugly" U.S. Americans can be. If the U.S. wants the world to be democratic then it should practice what it preaches and replace its bullying with statemanship.

Thank you for listening and considering my opinion.

Mikos Fabersunne
Mechanical engineer
encl.

SEP 19 1983

NICARAGUA: A U.S. CITIZEN REPORTS HIS VISIT

On July 12, 1983 I joined seventeen U.S. citizens on a two week study tour of Nicaragua led by two teachers from the San Jose area. We represented eight states and ten occupations --engineering, law, ecology, biology, medicine, the clergy, public relations, data processing, physics, and education. Our experience in Nicaragua so moved us, and the actions of the Reagan administration in sending the large fleet of warships to Central America so angered and alarmed us that, upon our return, six of our group traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with members of Congress. We wanted to share our observations about Nicaragua and our concerns about U.S. participation in attempts to overthrow the Nicaraguan government.

Between the six of us, we met with several Congressional members and over twenty staff aides. Several days later the House of Representatives voted to end covert funding of counter-revolutionary activities against Nicaragua. I am pleased that the House has taken this action and would like to think that our conversations with Congressional members contributed to this outcome. I am also encouraged by a bill sponsored by Senators Kennedy and Hart that would prevent U.S. combat troops from being sent to Central America without congressional approval and by a resolution by Senators Bingaman and Inouye calling for United States support for the Contadora Peace Initiative and a cessation of the funding of counter-revolutionary forces seeking to overthrow Nicaragua.

During our visit to Washington we were asked by several of those with whom we met to send them a written account of our visit along with our position on U.S. foreign policy in Central America. What follows is my account of our trip which I hope will lend support to those wishing to work towards a sensible foreign policy in Central America.

The purpose of the trip was to provide us with broad exposure to the cultural, economic, and political conditions in Nicaragua. The preliminary itinerary was proposed by Victor and Barbara Ulmer of Saratoga, California, who had visited Nicaragua the previous year. Based upon this itinerary, the tourist agency of Nicaragua,

1

Tur-Nica, made hotel accommodations and travel arrangements for our stay in Nicaragua. Upon our arrival we found that due to an unexpected influx of tourists, most of our appointments needed to be rescheduled. As it turned out this was fortunate for several of those among us who had particular professional interests. I was able to visit a center training campesinos in the use of appropriate agricultural technology, another visited with a practicing attorney, and a third met with a biologist. (Since returning to the United States several people have asked me about who made the arrangements, expressing concern that the tour may have been pre-fabricated with only the Sandinista "party line" being represented. Emphatically I state that this was not the case. We were free to go our own direction, meet with people of our own choosing, and change our travel plans. We used our tape recorders and cameras freely throughout the trip, with the exception of our visit to the U.S. Embassy where their use was prohibited.)

Many of us had come to Nicaragua with the purpose of being eyewitness reporters of life in Nicaragua. With so much controversy about the United States and its involvement in Central America, we intended to give a first hand account of the events and trends in Nicaragua. From our reading and from presentations by those who had previously visited Nicaragua, we had heard of the many accomplishments of the new government -- the reduction of infant mortality, the decrease in the incidence of contagious disease, the agrarian reform program, and the literacy campaign. We also came with questions reflecting the skepticism of these accomplishments expressed in the U.S. press. We wanted to know about the treatment of the Riskito Indians by the Sandinista government--had there been executions or torture? We came with questions about freedom of speech and press censorship--were people fearful of speaking critically about their government? What about religious expression -- was it being discouraged by the government? What happened when the Pope visited last March and was the Catholic church at odds with the government? We had questions about the presence of Cubans and Soviets--were they there as part of a huge military buildup? Had the Sandinistas strayed from their noble goals during the insurrection, turning from a democratic to totalitarian form of government? Were the Sandinistas guilty of human rights violations? Was there growing popular support inside Nicaragua for the counter-

2

revolutionary forces attacking from Honduras and Costa Rica? These
were among the many questions that we asked during our two weeks in
Nicaragua.

In the western half of the country our visits and interviews included a former Capuchin (Catholic) priest who had spent 28 years in Nicaragua, a Presbyterian minister directing a Protestant ecumenical center, a visiting pre-school education expert from the United States with three years experience with the pre-school department of the Ministry of Education, campesinos during a spontaneous overnight stay at a rural tractor operation and maintenance training school located on a state-owned farm, officials of a city block committee (the local form of government), workers in a cooperatively-owned shoe factory, a U.S. citizen serving as a translator for the Nicaraguan government, a representative of the national women's organization, and a member of the Association of Farm Worker's who was serving as a representative to the Council of State (similar to our House of Representatives).

On the Atlantic Coast where we spent three days, we met with the bishop of the Moravian Church (a Miskito Indian and a spokesman for the Miskito people), Mary Carol Ellsberg (daughter of Daniel Ellsberg) working as a trainer of health workers, the director of agrarian reform for Southern Zelaya (the south Atlantic coast), a vicar in the Catholic church, as well as with many local citizens and shop owners whom we encountered during our wandering through the streets. We also visited an existing hospital and the site of a new hospital under construction in the town of Bluefields.

Our meeting with Bishop Wilson and with Mary Ellsberg answered many of our questions about the treatment of the Miskito Indians by the Sandinistas. To be sure the new government made many mistakes in the early days after the insurrection, mistakes which came from inexperience and overeagerness, and sadly which involved violence as well as cultural arrogance -- mistakes which will take time to heal. There has been no massacre or systematic mistreatment of the Miskitos, however. From what we were able to determine, the Sandinistas are trying very earnestly to extend the accomplishments of the revolution to the Miskitos and to the other indigenous tribes of the region. Bishop Wilson stated that his people were the

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innocent victims of a conflict not of their making and that the
source of violence and transgression against his people was the U.S.
aided, counter-revolutionary forces ("contras") based outside the
country. He said that the relocation program was unfortunate but
necessary due to the attacks by the contras. He sees his role as
mediator between his people and the government of Nicaragua. When
asked his opinion about whether the people of the Atlantic coast
would be better off as a separate nation, his reponse was to the
contrary, that the best interests of his people would be served
through the support of the government and its programs. When asked
about what we should tell policy makers back in the United States,
he replied that the best thing that could happen would be stopping
the aggression, to allow his people to live in peace and continue
their efforts to overcome the problems of the country.

Mary Ellsberg described the health "brigadista" training
program on the Atlantic Coast and led us on a tour through the
regional hospital. (Health brigadistas are people trained in the
basics of health care who travel into the countryside to provide
medication, vaccinate residents, and teach about sanitation and
disease prevention.) She gave us a slide presentation about the
brigadista program and the problems of rural health care on the
Atlantic Coast region. When we asked her about the reports of
violence against the Eiskitos, she gave an account of the campaign
by the contras to selectively terrorize community leaders and health
workers. She cited several instances in the past few months where
health Brigadistas had been kidnapped or killed by the contras. She
also described the tremendous sense of unity and commitment
displayed by the health workers in continuing their service in spite
of the continued threats against their lives.

Midway during our trip we visited the U.S. Ambassador to
Nicaragua, Mr. Antony Quainton, to share with him our impressions of
Nicaragua, to question him about the evidence for the alleged arms
shipments from Nicaragua to the Salvadoran rebel forces, and to
learn the reasons for the covert U.S. support of the contras in
Honduras and Costa Rica. Mr. Quainton indicated that Nicaragua's
achievements in literacy, nutrition, and health were undeniable and
that there was no doubt that the current (Sandinista) government was
a great improvement over Somoza's regime. He acknowledged the mixed

4

economy and stated clearly that the Sandinista government was not
Communist. He gave little evidence for claims made by the Reagan
Administration that Nicaragua is supplying arms to El Salvador. (He
cited a truck captured in 1981, the observation of "several boats
and planes" with unidentified cargo, and a band of captured soldiers
who reported receiving arms as the evidence.) He claimed that
supporting the contras was a means to pressure the Nicaraguan
government to return to its stated democratic intentions yet denied
that such support was an attempt to overthrow the government or was
in any way illegal or in violation of the Boland amendment. Later
in the conversation he stated, "The United States has no economic
interests in Central America", a comment that astounded us after
seeing the Bank of America building in Managua, Exxon, Shell, and
Chevron gas stations, Coca Cola advertisements, and a MacDonald's.

We also had the opportunity to visit with the staff of two of
the three nationwide newspapers, including the opposition press, La
Prensa, where we gained insight into the issue of press censorship.
La Prensa has been censored frequently. When we examined some of
the articles offered examples of censorship, we found that many
of them were inflammatory and several were thoughtful. The
representative of La Prensa who spoke with us claimed that the role
of his paper was to be in opposition to the government and that
stories of the accomplishments of the government would not be
newsworthy. Indeed when a crowd of 130,000 people in a town of
40,000 population participated in the celebration of the fourth
anniversary of the revolution, La Presna did not give the event
coverage on the front page--apparently the event was not newsworthy
enough! While censorship does exist and while in some cases it
appeared to be excessive, I believe it shows patience on the part of
the government that the editors of the paper have not been charged
with printing maliciously false statements.

One of the most significant interviews was with Sister Mary
Hartman, of the independent Commission for the Promotion and
Protection of Human Rights, who has spent 25 years in Nicaragua.
She explained that her role was to insure the proper treatment of
former members of Somozan's National Guard captured during the
insurrection. She told us how on the day of victory when the people
were calling for revenge upon captured Somozan Guard members, Tomas

5

Borge, currently the Minister of the Interior, had declared that there would be no torture or executions, that the revolution was generous and that kindness would be their revenge. In fact, the death penalty has been eliminated and the maximum prison term is now 30 years. Later that day she took us to see a minimum-security prison for 55 ex-Somozan Guardsman to give us a first-hand view of how some of the ex-Guard prisoners were being treated.

A man sentenced to 22 years for his crimes introduced himself to us and gave us a picture of life in the prison. His daily routine included working on the 600 acre prison farm. He explained that prisoners were rewarded with generous visitation rights in return for working. Prisoners are also rewarded with eight days outside "vacation" for six months of good behavior. He described opportunities to read the newspaper, learn new skills, and how the government was emphasizing rehabilitation so that prisoners at the end of their sentences could return to productive work in society. My observation of the grounds noted the absence of guard towers and barbed-wire, clean and pleasant surroundings, two guards intermixing freely with prisoners; prisoners rebuilding the kitchen, making hammocks, tending the pigs, and husking corn, tidy barracks with ample personal space; bulletin boards with newspaper clippings and announcements, a t.v. set, and in general an atmosphere of opportunity with an absence of fear. We were free to ask questions of the prisoners--what they liked and disliked and how they spent their time. We freely used our tape recorders and took pictures of the prisoners (with their permission, of course). Needless to say, I was very impressed.

We also made an unannounced visit to another prison, this one for Miskito Indians captured in recent counter-revolutionary attacks upon Nicaragua. As with the previous prison, the atmosphere was relaxed, open, and friendly. While there the prisoners treated us to a concert of music of the Atlantic coast whereupon several of the women on our tour were asked to dance by the prisoners.

Mary Hartman also told us of the other human rights commission, called the Permanent Commission on Human Rights, members of which were interviewed on the NBC special, "Central America: Summer of Decision". According to Hartman's account, the president of this

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commission, Jose Esteben Gonzales, along with the Archbishop of Managua, had travelled to the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela in the final days of the insurrection in an attempt to bring the U.S. Marines into Nicaragua to secure power for himself in the new government. Following his unsuccessful attempt he broadcast rumors about the supposed execution of 800 former Somozan Guard members by the Sandinistas and how the new Nicaraguan government had buried alive many of Misquito Indians during the relocation from the Honduran border. Both of these rumors were disproven by representatives of the Organization of American States and other organizations including Amnesty International and Pax Christi. Hartman indicated that Jose Esteben has continued telling these falsehoods as recently as several weeks ago when he and Stedman Fagot testified before Congress about human rights violations in Nicaragua.

We asked Mary and other members of the Catholic and Protestant clergy about freedom of religion, the apparent division within the Catholic church, and about the Pope's visit. From the responses to our questions it is my deduction that there is religious freedom in Nicaragua. Not only is there tolerance of religious expression, but there is also participation of churches in the Council of State and priests in the administration. The Baptist minister on our tour who met with a range of religious workers commented that Nicaragua is "one of the most Christian countries" in which he had travelled!

Some religious sects have been encouraging their followers to be uncooperative with government programs and have had sanctions imposed against them as a result. The Jehova's Witnesses prohibited their members from participating in the vaccination program. Since malaria and polio were common and highly communicable diseases, this action was interpreted as being an obstruction to the goals of the government to bring health to the general population. As a consequence, the missionaries were asked to leave the country.

There have also been charges of anti-Semitism in Nicaragua. A synagogue was appropriated by the government and *El Nuevo Diario* has been criticized for its anti-Jewish comments. From what I was able to determine, the government appropriated the synagogue as it has other vacant or underutilized property in an attempt to stop decapitalization. In the case of *El Nuevo Diario*, I understand

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that the editors been reckless in their remarks and have confused
Zionism with Judaism. (The hostility towards Israel is
understandable. During the final days of Somoza after all other
governments discontinued supplying Somozas's forces, Israel
continued to supply his troops with weapons. Israel now continues
to sell weapons to the forces opposing Nicaragua.)

The division within the Catholic Church is strongly evident.
Those clergy in contact with the neighborhood Christian communities
see the gospel as the gospel of the poor and the oppressed,
reflective of the outcome of the Second Vatican Council. These
clergy members find no conflict between the Church and the goals of
the government. Apparently the conflict is at the higher levels
within the church, particularly between the Archbishop of Managua
and the Sandinista government. (We would have liked to interview
the Archbishop to gain his perspective on the question of church and
state, but we were unable to arrange our schedule to do so.) That
conflict has extended all the way to the Vatican. From our
interviews, we understood that the Pope had been invited by the
Sandinistas to visit Nicaragua and that the government had gone to
great efforts to accommodate him. We also learned that the
Archbishop had prepared the text of the Pope's speech. The Pope
delivered his speech, calling for unity within the church. He
ignored the requests from families in the audience for prayers on
behalf of their loved ones recently killed by the contras and who
had been buried only yards away on the day before. As a former
priest told us, the Pope would have had the people of Nicaragua in
the palm of his hand had he simply prayed for the dead. Instead his
visit was a sad disappointment, and disillusioning to many of his
followers.

Another topic of concern in the United States is the issue of a
military buildup and the presence of Soviet and Cuban advisors in
Nicaragua. The military is present in Nicaragua, particularly around
government buildings, the airport, power plants, and other sensitive
areas where sabotage could be particularly damaging. But the
strength of their military from my observation is in their militia
and not in sophisticated armaments nor in heavy artillary. "All the
arms to the people" read the posters--evidence of a desire to build
a strong militia and a definite contradiction to the goals of a

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totalitarian dictatorship where guns are in the hands of a select few.

Weapons come from a variety of sources including Western and Eastern Europe. In addition, many of these weapons are American made--leftovers from Somoza's time. I examined the weapon of one of the night militiamen responsible for guarding our safety while we visited the tractor training school near Matagalpa--it was an old M-1 with twine serving as the shoulder strap. After this sight, I had to laugh when I thought about the so-called threat Nicaragua poses to the United States.

It is also interesting to note that Nicaragua tried to buy weapons and spare parts from the United States after the revolution, but was denied this opportunity. Is it any wonder that they had to go elsewhere to obtain the armaments necessary to defend themselves? And given that over 600 Nicaraguan citizens have been killed by the contras since the beginning of this year, it seems reasonable that they would choose to fortify their defenses.

The only evidence of artillery were four helicopters I spotted at the Managua airport and a truck carrying two tanks of unknown origin on a road coming from the southern border. Certainly heavy weapons could have been hidden from our view, but I doubt they would escape the eye of U.S. reconnaissance aircraft which can detect objects as small as a pack of cigarettes from an altitude of 50,000 feet. Since we see no substantiated evidence of the "massive arms build up" often referred to in the U.S. media, I trust what I saw in Nicaragua more than what I read in the press accounts here in the United States.

The presence of Soviet and Cuban advisors reported by the U.S. Ambassador could also have been hidden from view. Although he told us there were 200 Soviets, 1700-2000 Cuban military advisors, and 4100 Cuban civilian advisors, we met no Russians and few Cubans--those performing in a circus and three doctors staying at our hotel. The doctors indicated that they were forbidden to discuss politics or religion with Nicaraguans, a policy resulting from a previous counterproductive experience that had dampened relations between Cuba and Nicaraguan Christians. The only evidence

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of Soviet presence we observed was a Soviet airliner at the Managua airport and a Soviet-made tractor hauling trash in a small rural town.

Obviously we had no way to document the number of Cuban and Soviet advisors actually present, but I question the statistics given to us by our ambassador. What we felt and what we observed was not the heaviness of a militaristic state nor of foreign domination; Nicaragua is very much in charge. Foreign presence is most apparent in the form of buses from Brazil and visitors from all over the world. (Ironically many of the advisors we encountered were U.S. citizens including a forester, the pre-school expert, an agriculture instructor, and numerous clergy.) I also understand that most of the international aid has come from the Dutch and only 15% from the Soviet bloc countries.

It is hard to convey with words the feelings that I have about Nicaragua. After visiting and questioning for two weeks I am no longer neutral about Nicaragua or the Sandinista government. I feel a strong affinity with the Nicaraguan people and was very touched by their warmth, their openness, and their gentleness. Several people whom I met are very special to me--two little boys who bought me a Coca Cola and who stood by my side while I tried to explain to a policeman in my poor Spanish why I had someone else's passport instead of my own, a young man with whom I discussed solar energy, and a fellow who made a hat for me out of a palm frond. I left firmly convinced that the Sandinista government truly cares for the people of Nicaragua and has done much to restore hope for their future. The accomplishments have been many; the obstacles ahead are many more. For now, in addition to the problems of reconstruction, they must deal with the strain of fighting off aggression from outside their borders, aggression, I am ashamed to say, supported by the United States government.

Much of what I saw is in sharp contrast to what we read in the newspapers here in the United States. Nearly every reference made to Nicaragua in our media is prefaced with the adjective "Marxist" or "Marxist-Leninist", with the apparent intention of the Reagan administration and his sympathetic press to implant in our minds a singular image of the Nicaraguan people and their government--an

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image of evil, threatening totalitarians plotting to sweep up Central America hand-in-hand with those no-good Soviet and Cuban terrorists to attack us on our southern border. One has only to travel there and meet Nicaraguans personally to discover how absurd this image is. Unfortunately, as absurd and fallacious as this image may be, it is nonetheless effective, for a lie spoken repeatedly eventually becomes truth to the unwary.

Mr. Reagan would have us believe that Nicaragua is a threat to the United States. In reality, Nicaragua is not a threat but a challenge. The challenge, however, is not from their military buildup, which is paltry by U.S. standards, but from their example of a government that is trying to love its people--to house them, to feed them, to free them from disease and illiteracy, and to defend them from those who would take these things away and place them in the hands of a privileged few. Nicaragua challenges us to cease supporting governments, like El Salvador, that rule by terror, and instead to be a government that acts, as they do, in the interests of human dignity.

From my observations of past and present United States' policy towards Central America and from my conversations with Latin Americans during my visit, the United States is losing the challenge. Rather than being viewed as a supporter of freedom, dignity, and human rights, the United States is known throughout the region as the big bully who actively opposes attempts by Latin Americans to reach these aspirations. If that is the best the U.S. can do, it is right and proper that a country like Nicaragua step to the lead with its example for others to follow.

The people in Nicaragua asked us to "tell the truth about what you see" and let the people of the United States know that "Nicaraguans want peace"; "please do all that you can to stop the aggression against us by the United States". Moved by all that I had seen, I promised I would.

I submit this statement to you in keeping with that promise.

Nikos Fabersunne
Sacramento, California

August 30, 1983