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Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfareby CIA
PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS IN GUERRILLA WARFAREPREFACEGuerrilla warfare is essentially a political war. Therefore, its area of operations exceeds theterritorial limits of conventional warfare, to penetrate the political entity itself: the "political animal"that Aristotle defined.In effect,the human being should be considered the priority objective in a political war. Andconceived as the military target of guerrilla war, the human being has his most critical point in hismind. Once his mind has been reached, the "political animal" has been defeated, withoutnecessarily receiving bullets.Guerrilla warfare is born and grows in the political environment; in the constant combat todominate that area of political mentality that is inherent to all human beings and which collectivelyconstitutes the "environment" in which guerrilla warfare moves, and which is where precisely itsvictory or failure is defined.This conception of guerrilla warfare as political war turns Psychological Operations into thedecisive factor of the results. The target, then, is the minds of the population, all the population:our troops, the enemy troops and the civilian population.This book is a manual for the training of guerrillas in psychological operations, and its applicationto the concrete case of the Christian and democratic crusade being waged in Nicaragua by theFreedom Commandos.Welcome!INTRODUCTION1. GeneralitiesThe purpose of this book is to introduce the guerrilla student to the psychological operationstechniques that will be of immediate and practical value to him in guerrilla warfare. This section is introductory and general; subsequent sections will cover each point set forth here in more detail.The nature of the environment of guerrilla warfare does not permit sophisticated psychologicaloperations, and it becomes necessary for the chiefs of groups, chiefs of detachments andsquadron leaders to have the ability to carry out, with minimal instructions from the higher levels,psychological action operations with the contacts that are thoroughly aware of the situation, i.e. the foundations.2. Combatant-Propagandist GuerrillasIn order to obtain the maximum results from the psychological operations in guerrilla warfare,every combatant should be as highly motivated to carry out propaganda face to face as he is acombatant. This means that the individual political awareness of the guerrilla of the reason for hisstruggle will be as acute as his ability to fight.
 
Such a political awareness and motivation is obtained through the dynamic of groups and self-criticism, as a standard method of instruction for the guerrilla training and operations. Groupdiscussions raise the spirit and improve the unity of thought of the guerrilla training andoperations. Group discussions raise the spirit and improve the unity of thought of the guerrillasquads and exercise social pressure on the weak members to carry out a better role in futuretraining or in combative action. Self-criticism is in terms of one's contribution or defects in hiscontribution to the cause, to the movement, the struggle, etc.; and gives a positive individualcommitment to the mission of the group.The desired result is a guerrilla who can persuasively justify his actions when he comes intocontact with any member of the People of Nicaragua, and especially with himself and his fellowguerrillas in dealing with the vicissitudes of guerrilla warfare.This means that every guerrilla willbe persuasive in his face-to-face communication - propagandist- combatant - ins his contact withthe people; he should be able to give 5 or 10 logical reasons why, for example, a peasant shouldgive him cloth, needle and thread to mend his clothes. When the guerrilla behaves in this manner,enemy propaganda will never succeed in making him an enemy in the eyes of the people. It also means that hunger, cold, fatigue and insecurity will have a meaning, psychologically, in the causeof the struggle due to his constant orientation.3. Armed PropagandaArmed propaganda includes every act carried out, and the good impression that this armed forcecauses will result in positive attitudes in the population toward that force; ad it does not includeforced indoctrination. Armed propaganda improves the behavior of the population toward them,and it is not achieved by force.This means that a guerilla armed unit in a rural town will not give the impression that arms aretheir strength over the peasants, but rather that they are the strength of the peasants against theSandinista government of repression. This is achieved through a close identification with thepeople, as follows: hanging up weapons and working together with them on their crops, inconstruction, in the harvesting of grains, in fishing, etc.; explanations to young men about basicweapons, e.g. giving them an unloaded weapon and letting them touch it, see it, etc.; describingin a rudimentary manner its operation; describing with simple slogans how weapons will serve thepeople to win their freedom; demanding the requests by the people for hospitals and education,reducing taxes, etc.All these acts have as their goal the creation of an identification of the people with the weaponsand the guerrillas who carry them, so that the population feels that the weapons are, indirectly,their weapon to protect them and help them in the struggle against a regime of oppression.Implicit terror always accompanies weapons, since the people are internally "aware" that they canbe used against them, but as long as explicit coercion is avoided, positive attitudes can beachieved with respect to the presence of armed guerrillas within the population.4. Armed Propaganda TeamsArmed Propaganda Teams (EPA) are formed through a careful selection of persuasive and highlymotivated guerrillas who move about within the population, encouraging the people to support theguerrillas and put up resistance against the enemy. It combines a high degree of politicalawareness and the "armed" propaganda ability of the guerrillas toward a planned, programmed,and controlled effort.The careful selection of the staff, based on their persuasiveness in informal discussions and their ability in combat, is more important than their degree of education or the training program. Thetactics of the Armed Propaganda Teams are carried out covertly, and should be parallel to the
 
tactical effort in guerrilla warfare. The knowledge of the psychology of the population is primary for the Armed Propaganda Teams, but much more intelligence data will be obtained from an EPAprogram in the area of operations.5. Development and Control of the "Front" OrganizationsThe development and control of "front" (or facade) organizations is carried out through subjectiveinternal control at group meetings of "inside cadres," and the calculations of the time for thefusion of these combined efforts to be applied to the masses.Established citizens-doctors, lawyers, businessmen, teachers, etc.- will be recruited initially as"Social Crusaders" in typically "innocuous" movements in the area of operations. When their "involvement" with the clandestine organization is revealed to them, this supplies thepsychological pressure to use them as "inside cadres" in groups to which they already belong or of which they can be members.Then they will receive instruction in techniques of persuasion over control of target groups tosupport our democratic revolution, through a gradual and skillful process. A cell control systemisolates individuals from one another, and at the appropriate moment, their influence is used for the fusion of groups in a united national front.6. Control of Meetings and Mass AssembliesThe control of mass meetings in support of guerrilla warfare is carried out internally through acovert commando element, bodyguards, messengers, shock forces (initiators of incidents),placard carriers (also used for making signals), shouters of slogans, everything under the controlof the outside commando element.When the cadres are placed or recruited in organizations such as labor unions, youth groupsagrarian organizations or professional associations, they will begin to manipulate the objectives of the groups. The psychological apparatus of our movement through inside cadres prepares amental attitude which at the crucial moment can be turned into a fury of justified violence.Through a small group of guerrillas infiltrated within the masses this can be carried out; they willhave the mission of agitating by giving the impression that there are many of them and that theyhave a large popular backing. Using the tactics of a force of 200-300 agitators, a demonstrationcan be created in which 10,000-20,000 persons take part.7. Support of Contacts with Their Roots in RealityThe support of local contacts who are familiar with the deep reality is achieved through theexploitation of the social and political weaknesses of the target society, with propagandist-combatant guerrillas, armed propaganda, armed propaganda teams, cover organizations andmass meetings.The combatant-propagandist guerrilla is the result of a continuous program of indoctrination andmotivation. They will have the mission of showing the people how great and fair our movement isin the eyes of all Nicaraguans and the world. Identifying themselves with our people, they willincrease the sympathy towards our movement, which will result in greater support of thepopulation for the freedom commandos, taking away support for the regime in power.Armed propaganda will extend this identification process of the people with the Christianguerrillas, providing converging points against the Sandinista regime.
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