S/PV.2477 Security Council

The Security Council is meeting today in response to the request contained in the letter dated 12 September 1983 from the Deputy Minister for External Relations of Nicaragua to the President of the Council in document S/15975. 2. I should like to draw the attention of members of the Council to document S/15979, also containing the text of a letter dated 12 September from the Deputy Minister for External Relations of Nicaragua to the President of the Security Council; and S/15980, with the text of a letter dated 12 September from the representative of Honduras to the President of the Security Council.

Mr. President,. it is an honour for me once again to extend to you the greetings of my delegation and Government on the occasion of your chairing the Council during this month. Your ability and diplomatic experience will, without doubt, give wise and correct guidance to the work in which we are engaged. 7. On the following day, 9 September, at 5.30 a.m., two T528 type ah-planes, painted in camouflage colours and originating from Honduran airspace, violated our national airspace and attacked the port of Corinto, Nicaragua’s most important port on its Pacific coast. It dropped four high-explosive bombs. On this occasion the objectives 4. Nicaragua is once again forced to resort to the Council in order to alert the international community and the 8. On the same day, 9 September, at 1500 hours, an aircraft of undetermined type proceeding from Costa Rican airspace illegally penetrated Nicaraguan airspace in the area of Bolsillo and La Juana Island, department of Rio San Juan. It carried out manoeuvres in support of counter-revolutionary attacks four kilometres from the Costa Rican border, as a result of which it was downed by artillery and rocket fire of the Sandinist People’s Army anti-aircraft defence. 9. On the same day, 9 September, at 1900 hours, three aircraft also proceeding from Costa Rican airspace violated Nicaraguan airspace and attempted to attack the Cibalsa military unit in the department of Rivas. Again the national anti-aircraft defence proceeded to repel the attack and forced the aircraft to return to their place of origin. 10. On, the same day, two T-33 aircraft originating in Honduran airspace penetrated all the way into the Matagalpa department on reconnaissance missions. 11. The Government of Nicaragua is convinced that these counter-revolutionary activities which originate in . Costa Rican territory are not approved by the Govemment of that country. Through frequent dialogue and a constructive and mature relationship, our two Govemments seek formulas that will prevent incidents of this nature. 12. This brief account of the facts leads us to conclude that military actions are taking place from the north and the south and confirms the co-ordination that the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which controls all the counter-revolutionary activities against Nicaragua, has been able to establish between Somozist guardsmen of the so-called Nicaraguan Democratic Force, whose base of operation is located in Honduras, and the counterrevolutionary and mercenary forces which operate along the southern border. 13. We are struck by the fact that the civilian and military targets to which we have referred are a key element in the analysis and presentations made public by the President of the United States, Mr. Ronald Reagan. One of those civilian targets-the Agusto CCsar Sandino International Airport, which any traveller can use-was the object of a show by President Reagan on 23 March of this year, in the course of which he presented a series of photographs supposedly to demonstrate that the civilian airport harboured an extraordinary military device. We stress that to 14. With reference to those illegal flights, it is appropriate to note that last week the Costa Rican people complained about the tremendous noise of the North American spy planes when they break the sound barrier flying over Costa Rican soil. 15. The other objective of these attacks, the port of Co&to, is, according to the military calculations of the President of the United States as expressed at the same conference on 23 March, the port of entry for weapons and military equipment that, according to his own statement, pose a danger to the region. 16. -Against that background, do those attacks not seem directly linked to such extraordinary accusations? 17. This concern is further strengthened when we consider, in addition to the Reagan Administration’s overt support for the criminal forces of the so-called Nicaraguan Democratic Front, the collusion of that Government with the counter-revolutionary forces that operate in the south. 18. Let us recall that several months ago the counterrevolutionary forces operating in the south made a dramatic appeal to the Reagan Administration to support their military operations against the Sandinist people’s revolution by providing them with funds, arms and training, since otherwise, they said, they would be forced to abandon their activities. In other words, “Either the United States gives us massive support, just like the support given the counter-revolutionaries operating in the north, or we retreat**. Shortly thereafter, those counterrevolutionaries operating along the southern border began to carry out new activities, and it is obvious that they have acquired bigger and better means for their counterrevolutionary operations, including a virtual air force. All of that demonstrates that the help requested from Washington flows effectively and rapidly. 19. 7Xe Miami Herald, in its issue of 9 September 1983, revealed that mysterious donations, supposedly from the CIA, have strengthened counter-revolutionary groups operating along the southern border. One of the leaders of the counter-revolutionary group ARDE (Revolutionary Democratic Alliance), when questioned about the origin of those donations, answered that he suspected they were from the CIA. The same counter-revolutionary leader admits, according to New Yotk magazine of 12 September, that one half of the monthly personal operational budget of the counter-revolutionary leadership in the south, 20. The money which comes out of the pockets of American taxpayers, by way of the CIA budget and its programme against the Nicaraguan revolution, is being used not only to attempt to destroy that revolution and overthrow its Government, but also to terrorize our people and inflict even greater suffering upon them. American taxpayers’ money is being used in Nicaragua ‘to assassinate teachers and to slit the throats of peasant families. The last 18 peasants victimized in this manner were from Waya district, Rtio Blanco, in the department of Matagalpa, on 3 September. This money is used to terrorize the population in the border areas and to buy aeroplanes of all sizes to bomb civilian targets indiscriminately-for example, in the suburb of Villa Fontana in Managua. In that bombing, which was denounced on 8 September, the lives of thousands of students at the Central American College and of thousands of residents were endangered. The same thing happened in Corinto, where the lives not only of the 5,000 residents of the area near the petrol tanks attacked on 8 September, but of hundreds of long-shoremen at the port, who were at work at the time, were endangered. There could have been a massacre. 21. Terrorism both selective and indiscriminate, is the translation in Nicaragua of what officials of the American Administration describe as “pressure”, the policy of ‘putting pressure on Nicaragua’:, which according to those same officials is yielding results: death and terror. 22. The responsibility of the present United States Government for these acts of aggression is very clear. Its own representatives are not in the least hesitant to admit it. To give only a few of the more recent examples, I draw the Council’s attention to what President Reagan said at his press conference on 21 July, to the effect that it is extremely difficult to achieve peace in Central -America while the Sandinist Government is in power in Nicaragua. It is also interesting to recall the statement of an American diplomat, reflecting the true sentiments of the American leader, when he told Beth Nissen, of the weekly Newsweek, that the only thing the Sandinistas could do to please the White House would be to shoot themselves. There have been statements along the same lines by the United States Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger, who affirmed during his recent trip to Central America that the American Administration’s present aggressive policy is *‘the correct path”. He added, “We should not stop now”. 23. In corroboration of all this, Z%e New Yodc Timesof 12 September, in an article datelined Washington, 1 I September, informed us that Fred C. IklC, Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy and third-ranking official in the Pentagon, had outlined the Administration’s position with respect to the Nicaraguan Government and revolution in a speech to the Baltimore Council on Foreign Affairs, in ‘_ which he said, “We must prevent consolidation of a Sandi- ,<nista regime in Nicaragua that would become an arsenal for insurgency.” ._ “Fred C. Ikle, the third-ranking official in the Defense Department, last night called for a military victory in Central America, saying negotiations alone cannot resolve current conflicts there. “ . . . “In addition to seeking more military and economic aid for El Salvador and rightist insurgents in Nicaragua, the Reagan Administration has decided to increase by as many as 11 the number of U.S. military personnel in El Salvador*‘.* Later the article quotes Mr. IklC as saying: “ ‘Let me make this clear to you,‘.Ikle continued, ‘we do not seek a military defeat for our friends. We do not seek a military stalemate. We seek victory for the forces of democracy.’ ‘6 . . . “Ikle urged continuation of covert aid to ‘democratic resistance forces in Nicaragua.’ Any other action, he said, ‘would turn Nicaragua into a sanctuary from which the nations of Central Anierica &Id be safely attacked, but in which U.S.-supported forces could not operate.’ “A strong and unthreatened Nicaragua, in turn, could force the United States to’place troops in neighboring countries, ‘as in Korea and West Germany,’ Ikle said. ‘Clearly, we must prevent such a partition of Central America.“‘* 25. These quotations from a statement by Mr. IklC, of the Pentagon, clearly reflect the policy which the American Administration has been following and which it plans to continue in the coming days, with great danger to peace in Central America and in Latin America in general. 26. These clear expressions publicly acknowledging the Reagan Administration’s responsibility for the aggression against Nicaragua and its intention to destroy our revolution can now be confirmed by documents found on one of the counter-revolutionary pilots of the airplane which bombed the international airport at Managua and which was brought down by the Sandinist anti-aircraft forces; Documents such as the .resident alien card, the permit to reenter the United States with multiple entries, and the pilot’s licence issued in Miami, among others, clearly indicate all the facilities and support given to the counterrevolutionary Agustin Romln by the American authorities just a few weeks after he went into exile, so that he could carry out his counter-revolutionary activities. It should be -*Quoted in English by the speaker. 27. If we pause to review the pilot’s log of that counterrevolutionary, we note his constant ‘journeys between Miami and various Central American countries and between Miami and other United States cities in various types of transport aircraft, including the DC-6 and the Boeing 727. We are absolutely sure that this individual was not working for any commercial airline but that the aircraft t mentioned, acquired with CIA money for the counter- * revolution, transported arms and all kinds of supplies for its activities against Nicaragua. We are also certain that they are the same ones used to bomb our people. 28. In order for the Security Council to become aware of the true dimension of the aggression perpetrated against the Nicaraguan revolution, an aggression shamelessly sup ported by the United States, we believe it useful to present some of the originals of the documents taken from the pilot who was shot down over Sandino Airport in Managua. 29. Representatives can see the pilot’s resident alien card as well as his Social Security card, documents which thousands of Nicaraguans who have resided in the United States for many months and years would have liked to obtain in the way that this counter-revolutionary received them only a few weeks after arriving in the country. We should also like to show representatives the permit to reenter the United States, a kind of passport for those who have found asylum in this country. Inside this document we see that the subject, a person who supposedly found asylum here, has the visa and the right to enter and leave the United States, precisely in order to carry out the counter-revolutionary activities which the CIA has been having him perform. 30. It is also interesting to look again at the pilot’s log of the pilot of the downed aircraft. If we look carefully at the flight records, all of which bear the signature of the counter-revolutionary pilot, Agustln Roman, we see that he made constant flights between Miami and various Central American and Latin American cities, undoubtedly to make contact with the CIA networks in the Agency’s efforts to overthrow the Nicaraguan Government. 31. We see, for instance, flights in DC-6 and Boeing 727 aircraft and in all kinds of aircraft from Miami to Latin American cities. On 17 June, for example, we see that he flew a DC-6 aircraft, identification number 666P, from Miami to Panama; on 18 December, in the same DC-6, number 666P, he flew back from Panama to Miami; on 25 June, in the same DC-6, number 666P, he flew from Miami to El Salvador; on 26 June, in the same DC-6, he flew from El Salvador to Miami; on 28 June, in a Boeing 727, identification number DISAL, he flew from Miami to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York; on 30 June, two days later and in the same Boeing 727, he flew from JFK Airport to Miami and thence immediately to Honduras. ’ 33. Regrettably, war continues to be at the heart of the policy of the United States Administration towards Central America and Nicaragua. It does not want peace or dialogue, it wants blindly to destroy the aspirations for justice and national independence of the Central American peoples. In the eyes of the ultra-right executive power in this country, these aspirations are impertinent and intolerant threats to the interests of the empire and its goal of domination in the area. 34. Examples and proof of this warmongering policy abound; recent and very eloquent examples can be mentioned. For example, in response to the serious and painstaking proposal put forward by the Presidents of Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela and Panama on 17 July in Cancun [see S.15877, annex] in an attempt to prevent the generalisation of war in Central America, the United States expressed verbal “support**, but then a few days later its specific response on the ground was to send its war fleet to the coasts of Nicaragua and thousands of United States Marines to Honduras, contrary to the specific request of the aforementioned Presidents to abstain from any measure that might increase tension in Central America. 35. Similarly, on 19 July, in response to our serious and responsible six-point proposal [see S/15878, annex], put forward in this very Council, the United States again expressed, in the words of President Reagan himself, that it had been a “‘positive step”. Nevertheless the fact was that they proceeded to send their war fleet and thousands of Marines for joint manoeuvres with Honduras. Today, two months after submission of the peace proposal for Central America and after it had been verbally considered as a positive step by President Reagan, we have not received the slightest response, comment or observation on it. 36. Consistent with this same warmongering policy of the Administration, while the countries of the Contadora Group and the five Central American countries were meeting recently on 7, 8 and 9 September in Panama, laboriously trying to find a way to understanding and detente in Central America, the CIA was instigating the bombing of Managua and Corinto and Defense Secretary Weinberger was visiting Central America and emphasizing the continuation of military measures as a basic element of the Administration’s policy towards Central America. 37. The spectre of a generalized conflagration in Central America as a result of this policy of war and aggression is a painful reality in our region. As long as the hegemonist, ultra-conservative sectors of the present United States Administration continue to believe that the national interest of the United States is incompatible with the independence of the Central American republics, as long as they tendency of Latin American nations - towards non- ’ alignment and political independence, those conservative 39. The PRESIDENT: There are no further speakers. sectors will continue to follow misguided nolicies and to The Security Council will remain seized of the matter. place our peoples in grave danger aid in situations of great tension. The meeting rose at 12.15 p.m. HOW TO OBTAIN UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATIONS United Nations publications may be obtained from bookstores and distributors throughout the world. Consult your bookstore or write to: United Nations, Sales Section, New York or Geneva. 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