CRANSTON URGES NEGOTIATIONS WITH CUBA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201360006-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 6, 2010
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: August 24, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/06: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201360006-5
WASHINGTON TIMES
24 August 1983
Cranston t
with Cuba
By T comas D. Brandt
VS-'ON .IVES STArF
Democratic presidential candidate
Sen. Alan Cranston of California has
called on the Reagan administration to
move toward talks with Cuba and imme-
diate withdrawal of the 'U.S. fleet from
Central American waters as part of a
six-point peace plan for the region.
Cranston, in a Capitol Hill press con-
ference yesterday following his return
from talks with Latin American offi-
cials of the Contadora group, said "no
lasting solution can be reached without
the involvement of Cuba and the United
States:'
The Reagan administration, has
refused to negotiate with Cuba, accus-
ing the government of President Fidel
Castro of supplying arms and training
to lefist and Marxist insurgents
throughout Latin America, with a spe-
cial effort to overthrow the U.S.-backed
government of El Salvador.
Cranston attempted to define a
Democratic policy for the region that
was "centrist," comparing it to what he
termed a more extreme administration
policy of "Reagan gunboat diplomacy"
and a "strategy of tough talk and guns"
that only feeds anti-Americanism cre-
ated by decades of 'U.S. intervention.
All six Democratic presidential
hopefuls are at variance with the Rea-
gan administration policy in Central
America. Cranston, a member of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
yesterday tried to move ahead of that
group with a set of policy alternatives.
Cranston said the Contadora group
plan, drafted in July at a meeting in
Mexico by officials from Venezuela,
Mexico, Colombia and Panama, "is the
most promising approach to achieving
stability, peace and democracy in the
region."
The plan focuses on demilitarization
of the region, negotiations and eco-
nomic aid.
"The Reagan administration," Cran-
ston said, "is giving lip-service to the
Contadora plan while actively pursuing
a policy that undermines it."
Cranston urged "expanded dialogue"
between the Contadora nations and
Cuba with the United States "willing to
participate at the appropriate point."
"The indications are that Castro is
receptive and willing to explore a
peaceful solution," he said. Cranston
would not say whether special envoy
Richard Stone or Henry Kissinger, head
of the administration's Central America
study commission,?should deal directly
with the Cubans now.
"Our aim would be to end all foreign
arms supplies to the region, to remove
STAT
all foreign military advisors, and pro-
mote pluralism and democratic elec-
tions;' Cranston said.
Parts of the Contadora plan are
reflected in Cranston's proposals which
call for an immediate halt to all covert'
and overt aid to the "Contras" - guer-,
rillas seeking to overthrow the Sandin-
ista government of Nicaragua.
He called them "ex-Somoza national'
guardsmen ... who represent the worst-
of the last dictatorship in that country" -
Cranston said there was "virtual una--
nimity among onta ora lea ers that
the -ace a ortstn icara are,
counterproductive, allowing the San
dtnistas to justify an otherwise unjus
triable m i l i t a r y buil -up, a? a riving:
the country to greater depen ence on
Cuba and the oveet ruon.
The Hite testes a so should pres-
sure El Salvador, Guatemala and Hon-
duras to cooperate with the Contadora
group, while conditioning L? S. military
aid on human rights advances, he said.
Cranston spent five days in the region
where he met with the presidents and
foreign ministers of three members of
the Contadora group and the foreign
minister of Mexico. He said that offi-
cials from Colombia and Mexico had
talked personally with Castro who said
he was willing to discuss the withdrawal
of.all foreign troops from the region.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/06: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201360006-5