POLICIES TOWARD LATIN AMERICA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000100660006-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 14, 2007
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: April 14, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.
4701 WILLARD AVENUE, CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND 20815 656-4068
PROGRAM Good Morning America
DATE April 14, 1983 7:19 A.M.
STATION WJLA-TV
ABC Network
Washington, D.C.
DAVID HARTMAN: Gerry Studds is a Democrat, a member of
the House of Representatives from Massachusetts. He is one of
the congressmen who has voted against President Reagan's policies
toward Latin America. And he's with Steve Bell in Washington.
We just heard Tom Enders from the State Department say
that our policies are not illegal toward Central America,
particularly Nicaragua, that we're not doing anything wrong down
there, that we're trying to get people to the peace table and get
all of the arms and the advisers out of there. What's wrong with
that?
REP. GERRY STUDDS: Well, it's almost academic to have
him discuss back and forth the fine points as to whether or not
they're currenty violating the so-called Boland Amendment. What
they are violating and what, in my judgment, makes this activity
just unarguably illegal is the Organization of American States
charter. That is a treaty commitment of the United States.
Under our Constitution, treaties which have been ratified by the
Senate are the supreme law of the land. And there is a sentence
in that treaty that says no state has the right, for any reason
whatever, to intervene in any way, directly or indirectly, in the
internal or external affairs of any other state.
That is the law of the United States. The President is
sworn to see that that law, and the others, be faithfully
executed. And he is, in my judgment and in the judgment of many
of the members of Congress, violating that law, without question.
And I submit that's a very serious matter.
HARTMAN: What do you say, then, about the Cubans, the
-- as Mr. Enders said, the Palestinians, the East Germans who are
Material supplied by Radio N Reports, Inc. may be used for file and reference purposes only. It may not be reproduced, sold or publicly demonstrated or exhibited,
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in Latin American countries, participating as well? How do you
counter that threat?
REP. STUDDS: I think we counter it legally, to start
with, and openly. Among other things, in my judgment, the
pursuit of this policy by this Administration covertly in Central
America is not only illegal, it is politically inept. And in
direct response to your question, it's unnecessary. There are
plenty of overt, open ways in which we can assist nations to
defend themselves if they feel threatened.
STEVE BELL: But the fact is that Nicaragua and Cuba
both appear to be doing exacxtly what you say they shouldn't do,
that they are committed by law not to do. We stand back and do
nothing?
REP. STUDDS: Not at all. But it does seem to me that
you put your finger on the heart of the question. And that is,
should the United States, in its effort to combat the Soviet
Union and its ideology, adopt the very methods which the Soviet
Union uses and which we say we deplore?
BELL: What are your alternatives?
REP. STUDDS: I think we ought to act consistently with
the principles and, at least I hope not naively, I and most
Americans were brought up to believe that our country stands for.
If you suggest, as this Administration does, that we
essentially fight fire with fire, it seems to me you are squand-
ering the one area in which the United States is unquestionably
superior, or ought to be, to the Soviet Union; and that is, we
stand for something in this world other than the brute use of
force, regardless of law.
BELL: But what specific steps would you take to stop
Nicaragua and Cuba from threatening other governments in Central
America?
REP. STUDDS: It seems to me that if the Nicaraguans are
aiding the insurgents in El Salvador to the extent that the
Administration says that they are, that the first step, under
international law, ought to be to bring that to the OAS, to
present what evidence we or the Salvadorans have, and to ask,
under the treaty, for regional efforts to do something about it.
If Honduras or Costa Rica feel threatened by Nicaragua or by
anybody else, let them say so and let us come to their assistance
to enable them to defend themselves. That's one thing.
I suggest it's quite another to arm a bunch of insur-
gents, to send them off, whether or not we instruct them to
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overthrow a government, to send them into a country with whom we
are not at war.
How can you make an argument, as Mr. Enders essentially
did, yes, we gave the fellow the gun, we gave him the bullets, we
trained him how to use that gun, we sent him to a country, we
told him who the bad guys were, but we sure didn't mean for them
to shoot 'em? That seems to me just incredible.
morning.
HARTMAN: Mr. Studds, thank you for joining us this
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