◆ SpookStack

TOP sjcRET Robertson, on the scene in Nicaragua, made solid prog- ress in establishing a base at JMTIDE. Between 3 and 17 January 1961, for example, he reported on three meetings with General Anastasio Somoza; and in the course of these, made arrangements for the movement of guards into the TIDE area in anticipation of the arrival of the first supply ship toward the end of January 1961. He also worked out arrangements for housing and paying the guardia nacional contingent which would be responsible for base security; and he set up the bookkeeping for the expenditures for the guardia. Although he gave no specifics, Robertson indicated that he had set up a system for alerting JMTIDE when "doubtful persons or newspapermen board the local airlines," and apparently this system was considerably more successful than the program estab- lished for the JMADD and JMTRAV activities. 46/* With reference to the security problem, Robertson reported that the arrival of the team reponsible for * In this context Rip did note that he was being "pestered" by Cora Waterhouse, a newspaper woman from the United States who was trying to find out what was going on.