SENATE PANEL ASKS CIA ABOUT SALVADOR ELECTION ROLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302620047-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 20, 2010
• Sequence Number: 47
• Publication Date: May 9, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/20: CIA-RDP90-06552R000302620047-9
ASSOCIATED PRESS
9 May 1984
SENATE PANEL ASKS CIA ABOUT SALVADOR ELECTION ROLE
BY ROBERT PARRY
WASHINGTON
Senate Intelligence Committee officials, while expressing surprise at Sen.
Jesse Helms' charge the CIA "bought" El Salvador's presidential election, said
Wednesday the panel has asked the spy agency about the claim.
"We don't know the basis of his allegation," said one committee staff aide,
who spoke on condition he not be identified. "We have made some inquiries to the
CIA regarding his statement."
Another congressional source said the CIA has provided money to support the
democratic process in El Salvador, but that the assistance has not favored one
party over another. In 1982, CIA Director William Casey said the agency helped
provide security assistance for the balloting that year.
In a Senate floor statement Tuesday, Helms, R-N.C., said a "covert clan"
funneled U.S. money into the campaign of moderate Christian Democratic candidate
Jose Napoleon Duarte, who Helms described as a "socialist.
"In other words, the State Department and the CIA bought the election for
Duarte," said Helms, a conservative who in the past has defended rightist
candidate Roberto d'Aubuisson, the other candidate in the Salvadoran
presidential run-off election last weekend.
Based on unofficial returns, Duarte claimed victory on Sunday. However,
d'Aubuisson claimed Wednesday that his party's tallies show him narrowly
defeating Duarte. Official returns are still being tabulated.
At a news conference, d'Aubuisson cited Helms' statement in charging that the
CIA and the State Department had helped Duarte in the election. D'Aubuisson
added, however, that he had no "tangible" proof to support the claim.
D'Aubuisson, a cashiered army major who has been linked to rightist death
squads in El Salvador, was described by Helms as a person "who openly espoused
the principles of the Republican Party in the U.S." Helms added that no hard
evidence has ever been provided to back up allegations of d'Aubuisson's alleged
death squad connections.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000302620047-9