WHITE HOUSE SAYS U.S. FINANCED SOME SALVADOR GROUPS IN POLITICS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302620038-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 20, 2010
• Sequence Number: 38
• Publication Date: May 11, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302620038-9
ARTICLE J~~PEARETJNEW YORK TIMES
ON PAGE -------f~f~~~-- 11 May 1984
White House Says U.S. Financed
Some Salvador Groups in Politics
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
Spedal to The New York Trmea
WASHINGTON, May 10-The White
House said today that the United States
had not taken sides in the election in El
Salvador, but did provide help to labor
unions, business groups and other or-
ganizations that endorsed or worked
for candidates.
Larry Speakes, the White House
spokesman, said the assistance was
part of a policy to foster "democratic
institutions" in friendly countries.
Meanwhile, Congressional sources
said the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence was Lnformed last year
that the Central Intelligence Agency
had provided aid to groups to help pre-
pare for the Salvadoran election. Last
week, the sources said, committee
members were briefed on the aid and
on the C.I.A.'s role in helping to insure
an orderly election.
The two leading candidates have
claimed victory. United States officials
say Jose Napole6n Duarte, a moderate
Christian Democrat, is correct in say-
ing he won.
Officials have said a victory by Mr.
Duarte over Robert d'Aubuissoa, a
rightist, would help win support in Con-
gress for aid to El Salvador.
The White House's comments today
followed accusations by Senator Jesse
Helms, Republican of North Carolina,
that the Central Intelligence Agency
had meddled in the election by support.
ing Mr. Duarte.
Mr. Speaker, in reiterating that the
United States had not taken sides, said:
"It has been the policy of this and
previous Administrations to provide
assistance to democratic institutions,
such as trade unions and private sector
organizations. These groups are free to
endorse and work on behalf of political
candidates, and they frequently do. But
we do not play a role in what their deci-
sion-makino is."
When asked whether C.I.A. money
might have found its way into the
Duarte campaign, Mr. Speakes said he
could only stand by his statement.
"I cannot go beyond that, and I am .
not discussing covert money," he said.
Mr. Helms said last week that Am-
bassador Thomas R. Pickering had fa-
vored Mr. Duarte. The Senator called
for Mr. Pickering's recall,, but Presi-
dent Reagan refused. Mr. Speakes said
then that Mr. Reagan had "full confi-
dence" in the envoy.
After Mr. Heims's accusations, ac-
cording to Congressional sources, the
Senate Intelligence Committee was
told that the C.I.A. had been financing
groups involved in the effort to support
Mr. Duarte and other moderate politi-
cal parties and individuals.
The sources said an aide to a Senator
on the Intelligence Committee had
briefed Mr. Helms, who then spoke on
the Senate floor to follow up his earlier'
criticism by saying that the C.I.A. had
meddled in the election.
The congressional sources" said
members of the Intelligence Commit-
tee had not been surprised by the infgr-
mation about assistance to groups in El
Salvador, nor were they opposed to it.
The rendering of such aid to friendly
organizations is known to have been a
C.I.A. practice since at least the 1950's.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302620038-9