One such incident was reported in a CIA secret document, the National Intelligence Daily, the daily newsletter received by the then President of the United States, George HW Bush, on July 13, 1989. The situation was dramatic for the last communist leaders. Mikhail Gorbachev’s USSR for reform, the famous Perestroika, Hungary and Poland were already in the throes of change, but Romania was still ruled by Nicolae Ceausescu, with the iron methods of the “old school”, and Czechoslovakia had not reached “The Velvet Revolution.” The time of the leaders of the old wave was measured in months, maybe even weeks, days. Any spark was enough to overthrow the weakened regimes.
It was normal, from this point of view, for the Americans to believe the messages coming from the countries where things were moving in the direction desired by the White House. On the other hand, the documents published by the Historical Event about the information held by the Americans around and during the Revolution show that the Americans did not have good sources in Socialist Romania. For example, on December 19, 1989, they did not believe that Nicolae Ceausescu would fall! The CIA-Revolution series can be found on our websites.
Returning to the document of July 13, 1989, it must be said that all the documents published by us show Hungary’s interest in changing Nicolae Ceausescu.
In December 1989, the roles played by the Hungarians in triggering the events in Timișoara are known, and then the interest of the agents for our country is amply documented until the spring of 1990.
In the summer of 1989, however, the obvious antagonism of the Hungarians with the Bucharest regime was auspicious, being a source of external pressure for the change of Ceausescu, pressures similar to the one we are going to reveal manifesting itself until the days of the Revolution.
Simply put, Hungary has argued throughout the year that Romania is a military threat to it, and that in the days leading up to the events in December, the deployment of military forces will be discussed.
Here is what information George HW Bush received about the situation on the Romanian-Hungarian border, on July 13, 1989. It must also be said that NID is an analysis-report made on the basis of all the information gathered by the American services.
“Hungarian reformist leaders believe that the attitude of the Romanian and Czechoslovak Orthodox regimes is increasing threats and forcing the re-evaluation of Hungarian national security interests.”
Obviously, when the term “orthodox” is used, it is not about faith, but about leaders who kept the “straight line” of Stalinist regimes.
“Budapest believes that Prague and Bucharest are joining forces with Hungary as their target. (…) More (…) Romanian officials (…) have warned Hungary that an armed confrontation is not ruled out if Budapest continues to press Bucharest on the treatment of the Hungarian ethnic minority in Romania.
Czechoslovakia and Romania have strongly denounced the reburial of Imre Nagy, the executed leader of the 1956 revolution, accusing Budapest of counter-revolutionary tendencies. In response, Hungary called on the Social Democratic Party of West Germany to include a clause in its Bundestag resolution warning of destabilization outside Hungarian borders.
(…)
Commentary: Reformists in Budapest (…) apparently believe the biggest threat is not from NATO, but from Warsaw Pact allies who feel threatened by its liberalization and growing voice in defending Hungarian minorities across borders . Moscow has refused to get directly involved in these harassments, and Hungary will increasingly turn to the West for support. Romania’s threat to use weapons is probably a ploy to force Budapest to weaken the wave of public criticism; a military confrontation is unlikely. “
