U.S. ROLE IN NICARAGUA AROUSES SENATE CONCERN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303570120-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2011
• Sequence Number: 120
• Publication Date: April 6, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303570120-2
WASHINGTON POST
6 APRIL 1983
U.S. Role in Nicaragu
Arouses Senate Concern
By Patrick E. Tyler
and Don Oberdorfer
%shington Post stau
On the first day back from Easter
recess. two influential members of,
the Senate Intelligence Committee
put the Reagan administration on
notice from the floor of the Senate
that there is widespread concern
that the CIA is circumventing a con-
gressional ban on U.S. involvement
in efforts to overthrow the
Nicaraguan government.
Sen. Daniel Patrick Movnihan
(D-N.Y.), vice chairman of the com-
mittee, said that in addition to its
obligations under the congressional
ban the United States has a "specific
obligation" not to violate the 1441;
Organization of American States
trcar\. which prohibits any OAS
country from intervening in or inter-
f?' := twit: the atairs of another
OAS country.
"if we are a government of laws at
home. it is hoped we would be a gov-
ernment of laws in the hemisphere,
Nlo ninan said.
i}e Mo,,-nihan was speaking.
the OAS
permanent counci: was
hearing charges by Nicaragua
a_anst the United States. The state.
men:. were made during a debate on
a proposal by Honduras for a nego-
tiated settlement of disputes in the
region through a meeting of five
Central American foreign ministers.
in the Senate. Patrick J. Leahy
(D-Vi.) said he has given the Ihtel-,
ligence Committee a classed report
that "hears materially" on whether
the executive branch is complying
tyit "both the letter and the spirit"
of restrict}ons placed by Congress on
secret operations in Nicaragua.
Tie restriction. known as the
Boland amendment, prohibits the
CIA or Defense Department from
prc''..nZ funds or Other support to
count: rre~c~utior,ar. groups for the
purpae ca o,er i:r; wing the
`\a.c: .... C(t..ernment.
"If one is to believe the 'detailed
accounts seen in the press in recent
days, the administration is actively
supporting, and perhaps even-
guid-ing, a large-scale anti-Sandinista"i
guerrilla movement now involved in
open combat inside Nicaragua,'`
Leahy said. ,
Senate Majority Leader `Flaowaid 1
H. Baker Jr. (R-Tenn.) said." there 4s
a great concern" in the Senate.about
U.S. covert activities in the region.
Baker met with Moynihan after the
New York Democrat's remarks on
the floor. Baker later said he would
ask for a leadership briefing by the
intelligence Committee.
Movnihan said the committee has
spent a quarter of its time in the
past year on intelligence operations
in Central America. He said Sen.
Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.), the chair-
man, has asked for a new briefing
from administration officials next
Tuesday. One of Goldwater's aides
on the committee assisted jr, draft-
ing the Leahy report.
At the OAS, Honduran Ambas.
sador Robert Martinez Cardonez
called for a meeting of five regional
states, including Nicaragua, to bring
about a stable and long lasting set-
tlement in the area. Martinez said
that Nicaragua should participate if
it is serious about seeking peace.
Nicaraguan Ambassador Edgard
Parrales Castillo replied that the
proposal is a U.S.-initiated "trap" to
outnumber Nicaragua at a regional
meeting. He said the real problem is'
an armed conflict "created artific ally
by the United States using Ho du-
ras" and he cited U.S. press rej'rts
in charging that Washington is pro-
moting. financing, advising and as-
sisting" counterrevolutionary bands.
The envoy called for bilateral
U.S.-Nicaraguan negotiations to deal
with the conflict. In Managua, the
Foreign Ministry said it is asking
Mexico, Venezuela. Panama and
Colombia to use their good offices to
arrange a U.S.-Nicaraguan dialogue
and Nicaraguan-Honduran dialogue
to settle disputes.
U.S. Ambassador J. William Mid-
dendorf II backed the Honduran call
for a five-way - Central Amo%can i
meeting:
The U.S. ambassador recalled,.,,
that the Sandinista leaders who took
power in July. 1979, had promised
the OAS to pursue "free and fair
elections" and pluralism at home,
and non-alignment abroad.
Middendorf charged that the San-
dinistas ".betrayed" those promises
and made Nicaragua an "increasingly
totalitarian' society"
Nicaragua's Parrales, referring to
reports that the Reagan adminstra-
tior, is preparing to reduce Nicara-
gua s U.S. sugar quota and shift
most of it to Honduras, charged that
flit is "a beautiful reward for trea-
son.'
4
Administration sources said that a
tentative decision has been made to
re("(;ce Nicara,ua's sugar quota. but
that it is not likely to i)e announced
for several weeks.
One official suggested that the
administration hopes to use the
threat of a sugar limitation as a car-
rot as well as a stick. "I'm sure the
quelztion would be reconsidered if
Nicaragua wants to stop exporting
revolution to El Salvador and its
other neighbors," the official said.
Staff writer Lou Cannon contrib-
uted to this report.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303570120-2