Office of the Historian

NI–23. Memorandum of Conversation, by the Officer in Charge of Nicaraguan Affairs (Herndon)1

Washington, October 21, 1960

SUBJECT

  • NICARAGUA: Courtesy Call At Department By General Somoza

PARTICIPANTS

  • Brigadier General Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Director of Nicaraguan Guardia Nacional and Chief of Nicaraguan Air Forces
  • Ambassador Guillerno Sevilla-Sacasa, Nicaraguan Ambassador to the United States
  • Thomas C. Mann, Assistant Secretary, ARA
  • Charles E. Higdon, Acting Director, OAP
  • Richard M. Herndon, OTC Nicaraguan Affairs – OAP

General Somoza expressed his thanks to Mr. Mann for U.S. cooperation and understanding extended to Nicaragua. With regard to his current visit at the invitation of the USAF, he said he had found the tour of USAF installations valuable in acquainting him with recent technical developments.

In response to Mr. Mann’s question regarding the Cuban threat, General Somoza said he considered it is a serious matter throughout Central America. In Nicaragua, he considers it about three times as difficult now to take effective action against pro-Castro opposition as in the past. Formerly, pro-Castro elements were found in each of the opposition parties; now they are coalescing. The tactics followed are the [Typeset Page 877] same as those used in Cuba itself. They seek to provoke incidents which will create mass repression. He said he found it necessary to explain constantly to the police who is truly responsible for these incidents in order to avoid taking rigorous action against those who are merely being used to perpetrate them. In General Somoza’s opinion Castro exercises a great influence in Central America and he must be stopped. The General realizes that denunciations of the Somozas propounded by pro-Castro elements are in themselves unimportant and, in fact, are to be expected by a person in political life. He considers the supplying of funds to these people through Cuban sources a much more serious matter and stated that Cuba is furnishing about $100,000 per month to pro-Castro people throughout Central America.

General Somoza states that the pro-Castro opposition has adopted the flag [Facsimile Page 2] of the late opposition leader-bandit, Sandino, as its symbol and pays homage to Lopez Perez, the assassin of his father, as its leader. He estimates that the strength of this group once reached about 4,000, but since the shooting of a policeman and subsequent uncovering of a plot he feels that the number has dwindled to about 600.

Mr. Mann stressed the importance of timing in the matter of taking action against Cuba. He feels that public opinion in Central America is beginning to turn against Castro, an opinion with which General Somoza agrees. The General thinks the other Latin American countries will follow the sample of the U.S. in respect to trade controls on Cuba.

General Somoza also noted that the U.S. has done a very fine service to the hemisphere through training Latin American military officers at the U.S. Army School, Fort Gulick, C. Z. He stated that Latin Americans appreciate the opportunity it affords and as a result of its successful operation the U.S. now has 2,000 propagandists throughout Latin America.

  1. Source: Department of State, Rubottom-Mann Files, Lot 62 D 419, “Nicaragua 1960.” Official Use Only.↩