CONGRESSMAN WANTS CIA FILE ON CENTRAL AMERICA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100980011-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: March 23, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100980011-3
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
23 March 198+
STAT
CONGRESSMAN WANTS CIA FILE ON CENTRAL AMERICA
WASHINGTON
A Massachusetts Democrat, concerned at the increasing number of news stories
and other allegations of American involvement in Central America, says he wants
to see the CIA file on that part of the world.
Rep. James Shannon, D-Mass., Thursday filed a resolution of inquiry asking to
see secret documents that reportedly link Salvadoran Col. Nicolas Carranza's to
the CIA.
A Shannon spokeswoman said the resolution asked the CIA to relinquish the
material in the next 14 legislative days. She said the congressman could renew
the request on the House floor should the CIA fail to respond.
Shannon's resolution was prompted by reports that Carranza, the head of El
Salvador's Treasury police, has been a paid informant for the-CIA since the
late 1970's, receiving more than $90,000 a year in recent years.
' 'Revelations of the past few weeks that economic aid to El Salvador is
siphoned off to dummy companies, that the government leaders promising reform
and receiving aid are also heading the death sgauds and now this new evidence
linking the CIA to Col. Carranza all point to a dark picture of American
involvment, " Shannon said in a statement.
Carranza last year took command of the Treasury police, which has been
accused of responsibility for many of the human rights abuses -in El Salvador.
Shannon, in a brief speech in the House, said he met Carranza last summer
when he asked the Salvadoran official about death squads, rights abuses, and
murderers who were never brought to trial.
"Right down the line Carranza stonewalled. He looked me straight in the eye
and told me there were no abuses, no government killings, no trial delays. I
didn't know then that Carranza had a hand in shaping the death squads and
picking the targets. I didnt think then that he might be on the CIA . payroll
when involved in these activities, " Shannon said.
''Now we have a responsibility to uncover the whole story. and stop the
suffering of the Salvadoran people fed by U.S. dollars, it's time for the CIA
to come clean, time for the American people to see where their money is going
and time to take a close look at our involvement in El Salvador."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100980011-3