Foreign Relations, 1977–1980, Volume XXIII, Mexico, Cuba, and the Caribbean

52. Memorandum From Robert Pastor of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski)¹

Washington, June 21, 1979

SUBJECT

• Cuba and Nicaragua (U)

On Tuesday morning I requested that the CIA provide a short memo on the increasing Cuban involvement with the Sandinistas and also supporting documentation. Today I received the memo at Tab A² along with about 2 inches of intelligence reports. (S)

Based on this intelligence, it is quite clear that Cuba has significantly increased the level of and the kinds of its assistance to the Sandinistas. Since last Fall, the Cubans have accelerated the rate of training for Sandinista guerrillas and have urged that the various factions unify and pretend a moderate and pluralistic front in order to gain greater acceptance in Nicaragua and internationally. (S)

In recent weeks, Cuba has not only been sending these guerrillas back to Nicaragua to fight, they have been supplying an unbelievable amount of arms, including anti-aircraft guns, heavy mortars, and recoilless rifles. There are also reports that Cuban artillery specialists have been sent to fight with the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, but these are not confirmed. (S)

At the same time, Cuba has launched a propaganda barrage against the US to put us on the defensive.³ The Secretary of State should make very clear in his remarks at the OAS that the Nations of the Americas will not tolerate Cuban intervention in Nicaragua or anywhere else and will not be deluded by the pretense of pluralism which many of the Sandinista guerrillas have advocated. It is not the US that is intervening, but the Cubans.⁴ (S)

1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Country File, Box 14, Cuba, 6/79. Secret. Sent for information.
2. Not attached. An intelligence report about Nicaragua, dated June 20, is in the Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, North/South, Pastor, Country, Box 14, Cuba, 9/21–24/79.
3. In an undated memorandum to Aaron, Pastor described a Cuban radio broadcast that denounced the “threat of direct intervention by the U.S.” in Nicaragua, referencing the “Yankee Marines [who] decided which government our people should have.” Pastor concluded, “we should be pumping up Cuban involvement.” (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Country File, Box 14, Cuba, 6/79)
4. Vance’s June 21 speech at the Meeting of Consultation of the OAS Foreign Ministers did not focus on Cuba but instead called for Somoza to resign and an OAS peacekeeping presence. (Department of State Bulletin, August 1979, pp. 56–58)