SALVADORAN PRESIDENT SAYS U.S. RUNNING WAR STRATEGY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201630001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 21, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: September 21, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/21: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201630001-0
ASSOCIATED PRESS
21 September 1984
SALVADORAN PRESIDENT SAYS U.S. RUNNING WAR STRATEGY
BY W. DALE NELSON
WASHINGTON
Salvadoran President Jose Napoleon Duarte says the priorities in his
country's war against leftist guerrillas are being "decided, by the Americans and
not by us" because of the conditions attached to U.S. aid.
In an interview in the November issue of Playboy magazine, to be on
newsstands Monday, Duarte also said that both civilians and members of the
military are involved in right-wing "death squads" operating mostly in small
Salvadoran towns.
Congress approved `b196 million in military,aid for El Salvador during the
current fiscal year, $81 million in fiscal 1983 and $55 million in fiscal 1982.
The Reagan administration is seeking $132 million for the fiscal year beginning
Oct. 1 .
In doing so, lawmakers have imposed a variety of conditions on different
portions of the aid. In general, they have required that the Salvadoran
government make progress in such areas as land reform and the elimination of the
death squads, blamed for thousands of political killings.
Galley proofs of the Duarte interview and a photocopy of the article as it
will appear in Playboy were distributed to reporters by the Council;on
Hemispheric Affairs, a private group that has been critical of Reagan
administration policies in Central America.
Lawrence Birns, executive director of the council, said the organization did
not obtain its copy of the article from Playboy. Duarte was interviewed by
journalists Marc Cooper and Greg Goldin, described by the magazine as
specialists in Central American affairs.
Duarte was asked whether U.S. military advisers tell Salvadorans "how to run
the war."
"This is the problem, no?" he replied. "The root of this problem is that the
aid is given under such conditions that its use is really decided by the
Americans and not by us. Decisions like how many planes or helicopters we buy,
how we spend our money, how many trucks we need, how many bullets and of what
caliber, how many pairs of boots and where our priorities should be all of
that."
"It is decided by the ones who give the money," he said. "And all of the
money is spent over there. We never even see a penny of it, because everything
arrives here (in El Salvador) already paid for."
Asked about the death squads, the Salvadoran president. said, "Of course they
exist, and we have to work to get rid of them." He said that "the majority of
killings have taken place in small towns of the countryside."
"And if you go to any of those towns to investigate, you'll see that there is
a group of people, both civilians and military, who control the town. They
control the property, the stores, the pharmacy, the church, the political
parties, the mayor's office _ everything," he said.
-Continued
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/21: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201630001-0