SALVADORAN AID OPPOSED IN SENATE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88B00831R000100220015-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 8, 2008
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: March 15, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2008/09/08: CIA-RDP88B00831 R0001 00220015-3
Ivey Demo,._
Salvadoran Aid Opposed in Senate
By Margot Hornblower
Washington Post Staff Writer
President Reagan's request for increased
military aid to El Salvador ran into major new
opposition in the Senate yesterday as the ad-
ministration moved to win over critics by an-
nouncing a new effort to make sure that po-
litical representatives of the guerrillas can take
part in the coming elections there.
Assistant Secretary of State Thomas 0.
Enders told a Senate subcommittee that the
administration will be making "detailed pro-
posals ... on how to achieve universal partic-
ipation in the ... elections."
His testimony came shortly after two influ-
ential Democrats, Sen. Daniel K. Inouye
(Hawaii), ranking minority member on the
Senate Appropriations subcommittee on for-
eign operations, and Senate Minority Leader
Robert C. Byrd (W.Va.), spoke out on the Sen-
ate floor against the first $60 million install-
ment of the additional $110 million in military
aid Reagan has requested.
Inouye's subcommittee has veto power over
Reagan's request, which involves shifting mil-
itary aid from other countries. The request
also could be vetoed by the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, which has scheduled a
vote for Thursday, or the House Appropria-
See LATIN, A9, Col. 1
THOMAS 0. ENDERS
... new proposals on Salvadoran voting
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 Approved For Release 2008/09/08: CIA-RDP88B00831 R0001 00220015-3
Salvador Aid
opposed by
2 Democrats
LATIN, From Al
tions subcommittee on foreign operations,
which will hear from Secretary of State
George P. Shultz Wednesday.
The administration is hoping that efforts
to bring the political arm of the Salvadoran
guerrillas into the upcoming elections, while
carefully avoiding any negotiations over shar-
ing of political power before the elections,
will satisfy critics in Congress who fault the
president for seeking a military rather than
political or diplomatic solution to the conflict
there.
Enders testified that "Some in Congress
have expressed the hope that negotiations
within the framework of democratic institu-
tions can achieve results. We believe that
this country and other OAS members can
help in this regard. -Together we should be
able to assist the Salvadoran government to
provide the guarantees of personal security,
of access to media for campaigning, of a fair
count,.of respect for the results of the votes
cast which all participants are entitled to
expect:"
Noting that Constituent Assembly Pres-
ident Roberto d'Aubuisson last week called
for the political arm of the guerrillas, the
Frente Democratico Revolucionario, to take
part in the elections, Enders said that a new
peace commission had been charged "to un-
dertake the contacts necessary to ensure it.
"Both we and others will be making de-
tailed proposals on how to support this effort
to achieve universal participation in the up-
coming elections.'?'
While Enders was trying to smooth the
waters, another administration witness, De-
fense Undersecretary Fred C. Ikle, was roil-
ing them by attacking the European allies
for their lack of support for U.S. policy in
Central America.
Under questioning by Sen. Jesse Helms
(R-N.C.), chairman of the subcommittee on
Western Hemisphere affairs, Ikle called the
European allies' "role-playing" in Central
America "very disappointing. They either
want to remain quite ignorant about what
really goes on and permit themselves to be
deceived-by totalitarian propaganda or-some
may be outright mischievous.
"One European ally, France, has supplied
arms to Nicaragua. Now other European al-
lies are supplying considerable economic as-
sistance to Nicaragua, but they refuse to
help others who want to build up democra-
cies in El Salvador and other Central Amer-
ican countries."
Ikle noted that since the Sandinistas took
over Nicaragua they have received $1.6 bit-
By James K.W. Atherton-The Washington Post
Administration officials Thomas 0. Enders, left, and Fred C. Ikle during their testimony on Capitol Hill.
lion in non-Soviet aid, more than twice the
$440 million they have received from the
Soviets.
He added that "The vitality of the Atlan-
tic alliance depends on this military thrust in
Central America being halted," since the So-
viet presence in Cuba and the Caribbean
would divert U.S. resources in the event of
war.
Inouye's statement on the floor that he
would vote against increased military aid to
El Salvador was a significant development
because the veteran legislator, a decorated
war hero, has supported the administration
in the past and is influential with his col-
leagues.
Charging the Salvadoran armed forces
with violence and corruption, and comparing
the Salvadoran regime with that of former
Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, Inouye
said,-"We .must.ask, are -we, -in--the-name of
anti-communism, setting the stage for anoth-
er Castro?"
Echoing the statements of his Democratic
counterparts in the House who have called
for negotiations with the Christian and So-
cial Democrats within the exiled political
arm of the guerrillas, Inouye said, "I believe
the, solution to the conflict in El Salvador
lies within El Salvador. Before any addition-
al military assistance is provided to El Sal-
vador, leaders in the government and the
military should agree to engage in negotia-
tions with all parties to the conflict."
Envoy to Guattenutltt Is Reeulle4
As Signal of U.S. D[S1)leoSttre
Associated Press
The U.S. ambassador to G}tatemala, Fre-
dric Chapin, has been recalled to Washing-
ton in a signal of displeasure over the recent
murder of a Guatemalan who was working
on an American-sponsored aid project, U.S.
officials said yesterday.
Officially, State Department spokesman
Alan Romberg said only that ' Chapin was
being recalled temporarily for consultations.
He declined to link the recall to the
deaths of Patricio Ortiz, an anthropologist,
and three companions, but other officials
said privately that the recall was intended as
an expression of displeasure to the Guate-
malan government.
The four Guatemalans disappeared.. in
Huehuetenango Province on Feb. 9. Ortiz,
33, worked for a private American firm that
received a $1.4 million contract from the
Agency for International Development to
develop a program of bilingual education.
On Friday, Romberg said the Guatemalan
government had arrested the officer who was
in charge of a patrol operating in the area,
where the group disappeared.
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