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The CIA's slide presentation did provide unmistakable evidence of a military buildup that Nicaragua's leaders have hitherto minimized. Nonetheless, Sandinista leaders were quick to dispute many of the charges. "There is not a single foreign soldier in Nicaragua," insisted Sergio Ramirez, a member of the country's three-man ruling junta. "How could we hide 2,000 Cuban soldiers in a country this size?" Agriculture Minister Jaime Wheelock, who was in the U.S. for his own publicity offensive, called the Hughes briefing, a bit redundantly, a case of "excessive hysteria"; he noted that the airport expansion program was actually begun by Somoza at U.S. insistence. They justified the military buildup as necessary in the face of American belligerency. Said Bayardo Arce, a member of the Sandinista nine-man national directorate: "Your leaders are forcing us to take dramatic measures. We expect an invasion any day. Look at these declarations of Haig! After words might come action."
Sandinista fears of American intervention were unfortunately given credibility by two stories—clearly based on leaks—that appeared in the U.S. press last week. In a piece by Bob Woodward (of Watergate fame) and Patrick Tyler, the Washington Post said that President Reagan had approved a $19 million CIA plan to create a 500-member paramilitary force of Latin Americans to "disrupt" the Nicaraguan regime. The next day, the New York Times said that the U.S. was providing the money for covert support of individuals and organizations within Nicaragua, in an attempt to bolster that country's moderate elements, but had rejected any paramilitary action. The Times story quoted Inman's dismissal of the Post's allegations about more provocative activities: "I would suggest to you that $ 19 million, or $29 million, isn't going to buy you much of any kind these days."
"Everything in the Post story was true," Republican Barry Goldwater of Arizona, who heads the Senate committee, told TIME. "They didn't have everything, but everything they had is true." At a meeting of the National Security Council last November, Reagan approved approximately $19 million to recruit, train and supply a small military force, in conjunction with certain right-wing governments in Latin America, including Argentina. Some of the money was earmarked for support of groups inside Nicaragua that are opposed to a Sandinista dictatorship. Both the House and Senate Intelligence committees were informed late last year of the Administration's covert plan to weaken Nicaragua.