Geshrying Volf

As Edgar Chamorro [Contra CIA liaison] told the World Court, "I attended meetings at which CIA officials told us that we could change the votes of many members of Congress if we knew how to 'sell' our case and place them in a position of 'looking soft on Communism.'They told us exactly what to say and which members to say it to. They also instructed us to contact certain prominent individuals in the home districts of various members of Congress as a means of bringing pressure on these members to change their votes."

Chamorro recalled for me how CIA personnel would contact the contras before politicians came through Honduras "and tell us who was coming, who was who, what to say, what not to say, how to treat them...They would brief us if he was a liberal or a non-liberal. That kind of thing. Make distinctions...Sometimes they would try not to mix liberals with conservatives. Be careful when you are with a group of liberals....you talk to them like you talk to a reporter...."

[...]

According to Chamorro, Woody Kepner helped edit and publish a CIA-sponsored book by former La Prensa editorial page editor Humberto Belli, Nicaragua Christians Under Fire, published by the ostensibly independent Puebla Institute. "The Puebla Institute grew and took on other projects. One was 'human rights'work which is neither thorough nor accurate, but which is used alongside the work of more established and reputable human rights organizations in order to counter their criticisms of the contras human rights abuses."

One of the charges slapped on Nicaragua was ant-Semitism, although it was discredited by man sources, including US Ambassador Tony Quainton who cabled Washington in July 1983: "the evidence fails to demonstrate that the Sandinistas have followed a policy of anti-Semitism or have persecuted Jews because of their religion." Undeterred by the evidence, the administration pretended that Somoza associates who happened to be Jewish sought exile because of anti-Semitism.

Edgar Chomorro recalled a meeting with three CIA officers in the spring of 1983 to discuss ways of promoting the contras inside the United States. One propaganda idea was to target American Jews by portraying the Sandinistas as anti-Semitic. According to Chamorro, the CIA officers "said that the media was controlled by Jews and if we could show that Jews were being persecuted it would help a lot." The real anti-Semitism emanated from Washington.

Holly Sklar, Washington's War On Nicaragua