CIA Reported Blocked in Plot on Surinamese – 1 June 1983
By Philip Taubman, Special to the New York Times
June 1, 1983
The Reagan Administration dropped a plan this year to overthrow the government of Suriname, the former Dutch colony in South America, after Congressional committees objected, Administration officials said today.
The plan, according to the officials, called for the formation of a small paramilitary force composed mainly of Surinamese exiles opposed to the authoritarian government of Lieut. Col. Desi Bouterse. The force was supposed to infiltrate the capital, Paramaribo, and oust the government, the officials said.
Colonel Bouterse, who seized power in a military coup in 1980, is viewed by Reagan Administration officials as an unpredictable leader with pro-Communist sympathies. Last December his regime rounded up 15 leading opponents, including prominent citizens, and had them summarily executed, according to the Administration.
C.I.A. Said to Sponsor Plan
Whether the reported plan to overthrow Colonel Bouterse called for his arrest, deportation, or other action was unclear. The assassination of foreign leaders, formally prohibited by President Ford, was also barred by President Reagan in an executive order on intelligence activities issued in 1981.
The plan was sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to House intelligence committee members. The C.I.A. reportedly told Congressional committees that Bouterse’s ouster would eliminate the possibility that the Soviet Union and Cuba would use Suriname as a base to expand influence in South America.
Several members of the House and Senate intelligence committees said they objected because the Administration had not demonstrated that Suriname posed a threat to United States interests. Suriname, on the north coast of South America, is bordered by French Guiana, Brazil, and Guyana, a former British colony.
While not opposed in principle to attempting to overthrow a foreign government, committee members criticized the C.I.A. for advocating what one House member called “the most extreme measure” before trying less severe methods to steer Suriname away from Soviet and Cuban influence.
The debate between the committees and the C.I.A. reportedly became intense before the Reagan Administration dropped the plan, Administration officials said.
Dale Peterson, a spokesman for the C.I.A., said the agency does not comment on intelligence matters: “We have no comment on this specific allegation.”
Covert Activities Under Fire
The plan fed concerns in Congress about covert C.I.A. activities in general, House intelligence committee members said. These concerns were first raised during the Reagan Administration by covert operations in Central America, including support for rebel forces in Nicaragua.
The Suriname proposal was disclosed tonight by ABC News on its late-night show ”Nightline.” The report, which was provided to reporters by ABC before the broadcast, was confirmed by three members of the House intelligence committee, a staff member for the Senate intelligence committee and two national security officials in the Administration.
The House Select Committee on Intelligence reportedly raised objections to the plan when first notified about it late last year by William J. Casey, the Director of Central Intelligence.
The C.I.A. is required by law to notify the two Congressional intelligence committees when the President approves plans for a covert operation. The Power of the Purse Although the committees lack formal veto power over such plans, they can raise objections and withhold the money for them.
Since Congressional monitoring of intelligence activities was formalized in the 1976, the C.I.A. has dropped at least one other plan to oust a foreign government, intelligence officials said.
The plan, proposed in 1981, involved an effort to overthrow the Government of Mauritius, an island nation in the Indian Ocean that was considered to have fallen under the influence of the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. In the Suriname case, members of Congress said, the chairman of the House committee, Representative Edward P. Boland, Democrat of Massachusetts, sent a letter to President Reagan registering the committee’s doubts.
According to Administration officials, the C.I.A. initially considered proceeding with the plan, but abandoned it when the Senate intelligence committee also expressed criticism.
One of the problems cited by the committees, according to Congressional and Administration officials, was that the C.I.A. had not provided sufficient evidence to show that Cuba – and by extension the Soviet Union – was becoming heavily involved in Suriname.
The C.I.A., the officials said, reported that 100 Cuban advisers were based in Suriname.
A version of this article appears in print on June 1, 1983, Section A, Page 1 of the National edition with the headline: C.I.A. REPORTED BLOCKED IN PLOT ON SURINAMESE.
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