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: