5-Step Rebellion

How to Win Revolutions and Eliminate People, The CIA Way

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During America’s involvement in Honduras and Nicaragua, the CIA was writing manuals encouraging Central American armies to torture, intimidate, and blackmail their enemies. Recently The Baltimore Sun dredged one of these documents, “The Human Resource Exploitation and Training Manual — 1983,” out of the classified file. According to The Sun‘s story, “ Teaching Torture,” the 1983 manual encourages the use of techniques that “prevent the subject from relaxing and recovering from shock.”

But if your attention span, or moral priniciple, won’t let you slug through 200 pages of sinister tactics, the MoJo Wire presents a shorter, more entertaining guide — “The Freedom Fighter’s Manual (FFM)” — for the first time on the Internet. This CIA sponsored pamphlet, which urges rebellion against Nicaragua’s Sandinista government, caused public outcry when it was first revealed in 1984. It features comic book style illustrations of “useful sabotage techniques, the majority of which can be done with simple household tools such as scissors, empty bottles, screwdrivers, matches, etc.”

And, as the “FFM” states, “these measures are extremely safe and without risk to those who use them.” Our government sponsored that? You bet. In 14 easy pages you too can learn how to overthrow the ruling state.

Begin “vindicating Sandino’s memory” here:

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The December 31 deadline is closing in fast. To reach our $400,000 goal, we need readers who’ve never given before to join the ranks of MoJo donors. And we need our steadfast supporters to give again today—any amount.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do.

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