DEMOCRATS ACT TO CURB FOES OF NICARAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100900008-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: June 7, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100900008-5 STAT
7 June 1983
Democrats Act
To-Curb Foes.
Of Nicaragua
By Joanne Omang-
% I lington Nosl.SU~(t'WrlL r
The Democratic majority of the
House Foreign Affairs Committee
yesterday abandoned efforts-to reach
a -compromise with committee Re-
'pubhcans on ,how toicontrol -covert
U.S-:,aid ' :to guerrillas- f hting -tlie
leftist:Sandinista -government in Nic-
aragua, and began moving .instead to
roan=such aid. '.
Ending a futile week.of negotia-
tions in a 'stormy ,debate, the Dem-
'ocrats.-held firm against a -series of
Republican amendments that would
have gutted a bill sponsored by the
committee chairman, Rep. Clement
J. Zabiocki (D-Wis.), and Rep. Ed-
ward P. Boland (D-Mass.) to stop
spending for "supporting,-directly or
indirectly, --military or paramilitary
operations in Nicaragua by any na-
tion, group, organization or individ-
ual.' They. said they.expect to ap-
prove the bill today.
President Reagan has said he I
would veto.any prohibition on- covert
U.S. help for paramilitary .and mil-
itary_groups opposing the.Sandinista
regime in Nicaragua.
-Rep. Robert J. L,agomarsino (R-
Calif.) voiced the views.of most com-
mittee Republicans when he said the
Boland-Zablocki bill would "straitjacket the pres-
identr
?T-he only. guerrillas Ina-,..get help"n.this--world
are commurst.guerzillas, 'Said. i. Henry J.
Hyde ?(R-lll.) -"WeTeiabout oQWmiatservice to
the Sl!+viet Union 4arid th'- monist doctrine
WNi e're going to make -it -safe:to.be-a commu-
nist guerilla and we're
4oing to=make it ter minal w.peagtierrillesn'fieis of Nicaragua"
The bill; an: amendment tome Intelligence Au
t.horization4ct,-. lso swould Yauthorizei!,overt-dJ.S.
as&istance?of up:to-,$80 million-over, le next-two
year,: -t'wt'Fie,goyernmiaL of;arivyfriendly country'
iri Ce tral-America" toicurtait'srms t,)ows t&-leftist
:-guerrillas fighting'.the U.S.-supportedgovernment,
of Ei Salvador. -
pB1ffiical will by Democrats''.t.hat would put them -
on-record in opposition to Reagan's policies in
Central America, according to a Democratic staff
aide"
ut, according to sources, concern grew .among
Democrats about departing from-.traditional bipar-
tisanship in foreign policy after Reagan hinted in
.his April 24 speech to Congress 'that.Democrats
would'be held responsible in the 1984 elections for
any.-communist gains in Central America.
'to-teach some kind of an agreement..
wtC. Repalli s to control U.S.:support for reb-
elun`Ilicarague'egaiilast week in the hope that
Republican -osincurrence would- force Reagan to
rer,rial~oe 'H(ewever,-Rep. Lee H.-_Mamilton (D-
`3na. ; 4ed=the..compromise effort, yesterday =
;trectied"4llth proposed GOP-amendments. All
-he'world Mows what the-:United States is doing
in licaragua and we-refuse-,to.admit it, .Hamilton
said. "We are held up to ridicule'
- The Democrats turned -back, 21 to L, a key
amendment -by Rep. William S. Broomfield (R-
Mich.) that would have cut off the U.S. aid to the
anti-Sandinista guerrillas only when Nicaragua
ended its support for the leftist. rebels in El Sal-
vador. -
Rep. Stephen J. Solarz (D-N.Y.) said the
.amendment was "clearly designed to permit the
administration to proceed along the path -it h'as
been following."
He was interrupted by Rep. Gerald B.H. Sol-
omon jR-N.Y.) who protested that the committee
Is about to sell the United Stakes pf_America
down the drain to aiduig and ahett:ing'.of'commu-
tism:in this hemisphere."
'fter ;i~emocrats protested, Soi6mon.,6aid he
sid-not antended-io'impugn their-patriotism-
-?Broomfield- lamented the party line` ri hire of
*he-,debate:; Phe country-:?is goings o- suffer be-
caase we haven't been able .to resolve oui .differ-
-ences7-he said.
in a hallway news conference, a representative
of a Nicaraguan rebel group said. he met. -last. weekend with State Department officials and '
found them "receptive.".
"We're not asking the United States for troops I
or weapons;" said Adolfo Calero-of the Nicaraguan
Democratic Front. "We just need little bitty rifles i
L
d
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100900008-5