We received this information from coordinator Rojas, who made the call in view of the new bloody battles being waged in Nicaragua. The brigade is playing an important role there in the struggle for the liberation of that brother country which is suffering hunger, poverty and oppression by the Somozist dictatorship. Rojas stressed that those who do not report within 48 hours will be automatically discharged from the Sandinist National Liberation Front army with the exception of those comrades who can prove they are ill.

[From Critica (Panama), May 4, 1979]

HUGO ASKING FOR REINFORCEMENTS

What is considered necessary as reinforcements for the battle which the Brigade of Victoriano Lorenzo is carrying out in the south of Nicaragua, has come to our attention as a result of two communications. One is that of Dr. Hugo Spadafora, and the other is from Mr. Efrain Rojas in his capacity as the coordinator of the brigade. Both of these communications came to our attention yesterday through radio commentaries—one on ABC radio in San Miguelito, and the other on the program "Pisando Callos", which was transmitted at noon on a musical radio station.

In the communication which carries the signature of Dr. Spadafora, it says that "The Brigade Victoriano Lorenzo has recently opened its inscription book for those Panamanians who have military experience, enjoy good health and physical condition, and whose object is to be integrated with the ranks of the Army Sandinista Liberation Movement, which is fighting on Nicaraguan soil with the final vision of defeating Somozan tyranny.'

In the same communication of Dr. Spadafora, it is told where the book is to be found, in the City of Chorrera, Avenue of the Americas, No. 2981, in front of the Park of November 10th.

In another parte, coordinator of the Brigade Victoriano Lorenzo of Panama, Mr. Efrain Rojas, solicits and "exhorts the public opinion by which all men of the voluntary revolution will join in the central orientation in order to constitute in Chorerra a flow of information with our companions who encounter frontline combat.

Mr. HUBBARD. At this time, we would call on the Honorable Louis Pallais, vice president of Nicaragua, who is accompanied by Maximillian Kelly, Secretary to the President, and Jose Carlos Ulloa, Nicaraguan Customs Official

Mr. Kelly will speak first. The members of the subcommittee and the full committee will keep in mind that Mr. Jose Carlos Ulloa speaks no English.

Mr. Kelly.

STATEMENT OF HON. LOUIS PALLAIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF NICARAGUA, ACCOMPANIED BY MAXIMILLIAN KELLY, SECRETARY TO THE PRESIDENT; AND JOSE CARLOS ULLOA, NICARAGUAN CUSTOMS OFFICIAL

Mr. KELLY. Mr. Chairman, members of this subcommittee, ladies and gentlemen.

I welcome this opportunity to present to this distinguished subcommittee evidence which conclusively shows the direct involvement of the Governments of Cuba and Panama in the present violence in Nicaragua.

Quantities of FAL 7.62-caliber Belgian-made rifles manufactured by Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre and sold only to Cuba have turned up in the hands of Sandinistas in Nicaragua. These weapons quite clearly have been supplied by Cuba and shipped to Panama.

On March 13 and 16, two vans were intercepted on the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border. Seized were 49 FAL 7.62-caliber rifles found in false compartments. In addition, 181 identical rifles have been captured from the Sandinistas.

In 1963 the Cuban Government of Fidel Castro supplied similar rifles to terrorists then attempting to overthrow the Venezuelan Government of Romulo Betancourt. In response to a complaint from the Venezuelan Government, the Organization of American States (OAS) carried out an exhaustive investigation and from the findings of this body, we see today that the guns captured from the Sandinistas by the Nicaraguan National Guard are identical to those provided by Fidel Castro to the Venezuelan terrorists.

[The final report of the investigation is contained with the prepared statement of Mr. Kelly, which appears later.]

Mr. KELLY. In accordance with the final report of the group of military advisers of the investigating committee of the OAS, a copy of which I am submitting for the record, the following are the characteristics of these Belgian rifles:

One, this specific model of the FAL was supplied to only three countries: Cuba, Ecuador, and Chile.

I call your attention to a set of 3 papers that were in the papers that were handed out.

[The papers to which reference is made are included with the prepared statement of Mr. Kelly.]

Mr. KELLY. In each case the national emblem of the country was engraved on the back part of the right cheek of the action box, except that the actual positioning in each of the three cases was different.

Three, the rifles taken from the Sandinistas show the national emblem to have been erased or cut out precisely where the national emblem of Cuba was originally stamped.

The FAL rifles sold to Cuba carried the serial numbers on the left-hand side of the action box. Those rifles sold to Chile and Ecuador carried the serial numbers on the right-hand side.

Five, the rifles captured from the Sandinistas have a long mounting bolt for the flash suppressor, whereas those sold to Chile and Ecuador were short.

Mr. HUBBARD. Excuse me for interrupting. Are any of those weapons you are talking about in the committee room?

Mr. KELLY. Yes; Mr. Chairman, they are on the last board, the one that says, "Cuban and Venezuelan Weapons Smuggled by Panama to Nicaraguan Terrorists."

We have a Venezuelan weapon to differentiate from the Cuban rifles.

Mr. HUBBARD. Excuse me for interrupting. The weapons you are referring to are those on the far board there?

Mr. KELLY. That is correct, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. HUBBARD. Please proceed.

Mr. KELLY. In an affidavit filed December 6, 1963, by the Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre, it clearly and categorically states that rifles with the characteristics noted above were sold only to the Government of Cuba.

Mr. Chairman, yesterday I submitted FAL rifles taken from the Sandinistas to an arms expert at the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. This expert concurred that the rifles being displayed here today are identical to those referred to in the Fabrique Nationale affidavit as having been purchased by the Cuban Government in 1959.

It may come as a surprise to the members of this subcommittee, Mr. Chairman, to learn that identical FAL rifles to those taken from Sandinistas have been used by Fidel Castro's forces in Africa, especially in Angola.

Mr. Chairman, you may ask what is the Panamanian connection with these Cuban rifles. From our intelligence sources, we know that the route taken was precisely through Panama as shown by the fact that 49 of these FAL rifles were found alongside 70 U.S. manufactured M-1 carbines purchased by Panamanians and found in the two vans intercepted in March, as mentioned earlier.

I will deal with these U.S. manufactured carbines further on. It is also a fact that some of these rifles I refer to the Belgian rifles, were taken from Panamanian nationals killed in Nicaragua while fighting in the International Brigade of mercenaries recruited by Hugo Spadafora, former Vice Minister of Health and former roommate of President Aristides Royo.

In the same two vans intercepted on March 13 and 16 mentioned earlier, Nicaraguan customs officials at Penas Blancas also discovered substantial quantities of other weapons and material. Included were 90 .30-caliber M-1 carbines. Seventy of these M-1's have been traced to the Universal Firearms Corp. of Florida and Johnson Arms of New Jersey. Records now show that these carbines were part of a shipment of 150 M-1 .30-caliber carbines exported by Public Safety Corp. According to a permit of January 24, made out to James Allen Howell and Jose Antonio Alvarez of Miami, these carbines were exported to Caza y Pesca, S.A.-hunting and fishing-in Panama, of which Col. Manuel Noriega, head of the Panamanian G-2 intelligence, figures as a principal shareholder.

On May 15, the U.S. district court of the southern district of Florida indicted Jose A. Pujol, Miami Air Cargo manager for Air Panama, Jose Antonio "Tony" Alvarez, a Miami gun dealer and exporter, Carlos Wittgreen, president of Caza y Pesca, S.A., a Panamanian company, James Allen Howell and Walter Donald McComas of Miami.

This indictment is in connection with the purchase and delivery of arms between September 1978 and January 1979 and which include hundreds of .30-caliber M-1 carbines purchased from the Universal Firearms Corp. of Florida.

According to an affidavit filed by special agent Donald R. Kimbler of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms in Miami, Fla., Jose Pujol on September 22, 1978, told the Garcia National Gun Shop that he would be ordering firearms in quantities amounting to $2 million. He said the weapons were going to "Nicaraguan guerrilla forces."

On November 10, 1978, special agent Kimbler interviewed Edgardo Lopez, then consul of Panama in Miami. According to the ATF affidavit, consul Lopez had stated that he had been involved in at least seven firearm shipments with Jose Pujol and Jose Antonio Alvarez, and that he received his instructions from an official of the Panamanian G-2 intelligence agency in Panama. On May 11, 1979, President Aristides Royo of Panama said in Washington, D.C., that Lopez had been removed as consul on October 11, 1978. U.S. State Department records show, however, that Edgardo Lopez was only replaced in January 1979 and was still

acting consul at the time he was interviewed by ATF agents on November 10, 1978.

Mr. Chairman, I have presented to this distinguished subcommittee the conclusive evidence that the Governments of Cuba and Panama are supplying Belgium-made FAL rifles and U.S. made M1 carbines to the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.

As to the many weapons which are shedding the blood of Nicaraguans such as German machine guns, French and Communist Chinese rocket launchers, such as the one you see on the table, I do not have the same conclusive evidence.

Nevertheless, should the U.S. State Department consider looking into this matter, they might start with "Defensores de Panama,' P.O. Box 1824, Panama City, Panama, and a gentleman by the name of Debenord, D-e-b-e-n-o-r-d.

While the Panama Government might suggest that this trafficking is the concern of individuals, it could hardly take place without the knowledge and tacit approval of a responsible government. I am submitting a list of all serial numbers of Belgian-made rifles, and the caliber .30 carbines also.

[The material is contained in the appendix to Maximillian Kelly's prepared statement.]

Mr. HUBBARD. Thank you very much, Mr. Max Kelly.

Now we will hear from vice president Louis Pallais, vice president of the Congress of Nicaragua.

Mr. PALLAIS. Mr. Chairman, I welcome this opportunity to meet with this distinguished subcommittee on a matter of such portentous importance to my country and the world.

Nicaragua is under a relentless attack by international Communism led by Cuba and Panama. Those who refuse to recognize this reality and see the present crisis and turmoil in Central America only as a product of national and socioeconomic issues are blind to history and the evidence so clearly revealed by events.

Let us briefly review some of this evidence. My country, Nicaragua, has been a victim of 20 years of Soviet-Cuban subversion and terrorism with the coming to power of Fidel Castro in 1959. From that time onward, world Communism has sought to overthrow the constitutionally elected and successive governments of Nicaragua to impose Marxism on the people of Nicaragua, a system our people totally reject.

The Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN) terrorist movement is the principal armed force by which the U.S.S.R.-Cuba are attempting to achieve this objective. The Sandinista leaders have been trained and indoctrinated in Cuba and the Soviet Union. Some people have been taken to take special graduate studies by the Soviet Union, at the Patricio Lumumbo University in Moscow. The Castro regime has provided weapons, financial and logistical support and open sanctuary for Sandinistas fleeing Nicaragua after carrying out terrorist actions.

Such has been the flagrant involvement of Cuba in this ongoing campaign that it has now become politically-and logisticallyexpedient for Cuba to move the frontline base of operations to Panama.

On coming to power in 1959, Fidel Castro immediately targeted two countries for takeover: Panama and Nicaragua. As a result,

Panama is today a Marxist enclave on the isthmus through the treachery of the present leaders of that nation. The Panamanian people have been betrayed from within, Mr. Chairman.

Nicaragua has proved to be much more difficult. In August 1978 the Sandinistas carried out a sneak assault on the National Palace in Managua, killing five and holding almost the entire legislative body and 1,500 ordinary citizens hostage for 45 hours. Following the negotiated release of 59 fellow Sandinista terrorists from prison and a one-half million dollar cash ransom, these terrorists were flown as they demanded to Panama. Many shortly reappeared in Cuba.

From that moment, Panama openly has become the continental haven for bloody terrorists and a base for recruiting, reequipping, and training of terrorist forces determined to take over Central America on behalf of Marxist socialism.

Over the intervening months since that August 1978 assault on the National Palace in Managua, scores of Sandinista terrorists have been flown to sanctuary in Panama aboard Panamanian Air Force aircraft; their leaders flown to other countries in the region including Cuba, and Venezuela under Carlos Andres Perez, who was President then, as part of the operations to recruit for and reorganize their terrorist operations.

We have read in the press of open meetings with President Carlos Andres Perez and General Torrijos.

On August 30, 1978, Marxist terrorist leaders Eden Pastora and Dora Maria Tellez were flown back to Costa Rica aboard a Panamanian military aircraft to meet with Costa Rican President Rodrigo Carazo.

On September 10, 1978, 22 Sandinistas arrived in Havana, Cuba, from Panama and were met and feted by high officials from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and Panamanian Ambassador Miguel Brugeras. On September 15, 1978, Panama dispatched four helicopters to Costa Rica to support action against Nicaragua.

On September 27, 1978, Sandinista leader Tomas Borge arrived in Havana from Panama and reported to Fidel Castro on the terrorist operations in Nicaragua.

Pictures of this meeting were published in the world press.

On the same day, Jorge Aparicio, former ambassador of Panama to Algiers, confirmed that several former members of Panama's government are among the volunteers enrolled in the Communist international brigades of mercenaries being trained and equipped in Panama.

On November 28, 1978, the Associated Press reported that, "generally reliable intelligence sources show Panama as a possible conduit for Cuban-financed aid and weapons in the struggle to overthrow the anti-Communist Government of Nicaragua.'

December 28, 1978, former Panamanian Vice Minister of Health Hugo Spadafora, confirmed that 20 experienced Sandinista guerrillas were in Panama the day the U.S. Senate voted on the ratification of the Canal Treaties, prepared to blow up the Canal with Panamanian troops under the command of Gen. Omar Torrijos. January 18 of this year, Gen. Omar Torrijos while visiting Carlos Andres Perez, then President of Venezuela, publicly stated, "There