PRESIDENT TO APPEAL TO CONGRESS, NATION TO BACK LATIN POLICY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505400080-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 80
• Publication Date: April 21, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/09: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505400080-1 r I
AFIICLE APPE.FM WASHINGTON POST
ON PAGE
21 APPTL 1983
President to App ai
To Congress, Nation
To Back Latin Policy
By Patrick E. Tyler
and Lou Cannon
%..i ii ngt ,n t?=Staff wrArrs
President Reagan has decided to
make an unusual appearance before
a i:,int. session of Congress next
Wednesday night to seek support for
his sagging Central American policy
am: attempt the rescue of his endan-
gered rnii;tarv aid package for El
Salvador.
Iiea~an was described b%- aides
v'esterr'; ue.lieving that only a
rati ,tali televised speech. in which
he '.?i1! hE atnpealin, to the country
a: Wel, i s Con:ress, can rescue his
1' i:-an}on aid request for the Sai-
vnn.xan military after recent House
ccrr:.,;UkxE ogres w cut at least.. 5O
million from it.
'l'he aides said Reagan wanted to
address : ioir,t session hecauSme -his
post s?ec?:hes' on Central America
did not receive the television coVer-
?_E he sol:silt,
f,istor: is v rittet1. God forbid,
that Ce,t:ra; America has gone com-
and i~texicl is flooded with
ref, ,e s, the not going to say
that Ron;tid Reagan didn't do his
clean ievei best to prevent it,- said
one administration official vesterdav.
~ti bite House . national security
rs adviser Wi!iiam P. Clark and
chic! l;f staff James A. Baker III,
who have been feuding over defense
spending. agreed yesterday that it is
"critical" for the president to speak
nut to win congressional approval of'
the :n;itarv aid for El Salvador, of-
tic1 ii said.
One official said it was "absurd"
for Congress to "blithely approve
S 45( million extra for Israeli aid and
nut give S50 million needed in Our
own hock yard."
The House also has delayed for
.more than a month Reagan's request to
transfer the remaining. $60 million in ad-
ditional military aid for El Salvador from
other foreign aid accounts-
In addition, Democratic members of the
House Intelligence Committee are consid-
ering new restrictions on the administra-
tion's financing of covert operations
against the leftist government of Nicara-
gua, which has been accused by Reagan of
shipping arms to leftist guerrillas in El
Salvador.
Some critics have said the administ.ra-
tion is violating an existing congressional
prohibition against. CIA activities aimed at
overthrowing the Nicaraguan government..
After questioning Secretary of State
George P. Shultz for three hours in closed
session last night, the House committee is
expected to decide today whether to re-
strict CIA activities further.
Reagan'., address to Congress is to locus
on the X110 million aid package. Senior
administration officials are known to he
frustrated with the conffessiunal debate
on Central America, which has instead to-
cused on the legality of U.S. covert oper-
atil ms.
The president and his top foreign policy
advisers are concerned about increased
Cuban and Soviet influence in the region,
which they see as a direct threat to U.S.
interests.
"We will continue to push for the El
Salvador aid package," White House
spokesman Larry Speakes said yesterday.
We think it's essential this country, which
is pledged to democratic principles and re-
forms, be provided with this aid to
provide a shield so they can protect them-
selves from people who obviously want to
destroy their progress."
Reagan acknowledged for the first time
last week that the United States was in-
volved in covert operations against Nica-
ragua, but he insisted that their sole -pur-
pose was to stop the flow of arms from
Nicaragua 4o El Salvador.
Several sources said this week that
Democrats on the House Intelligence Com-
mittee may want to stop funding the co-
vert operations because of evidence that
the CIA is stretching its definition of
"arms interdiction" to include the support
of anti-Sandinista groups trying to over-
throw the current government and whose
aggressive military activities in Nicaragua
cannot he defined as arms interdiction.'
In announcing the speech plans yester-
day, Speakes cited what he said was "fool-
proof evidence" that the Nicaragua regime
?as involved in gun running to Central
American guerrillas. He referred to Brazil's
grounding of four Libyan cargo planes
loaded with a cache of' arms and military
equipment parts disguised as medical sup-
plies.
The planes were bound for Nicaragua.
Speakes did not say the arms shipment
was bound for El Salvador, but stated it
"very well could have been designed to aid
those who would attempt to overthrow ...
democratic governments" in the-region.
Speakes added, "'T'his is foolproof evi-
dence that outside forces are continuing to
supply arms to the region in an attempt to
upset the reforms that have been so eager-
ly sought by the governments there."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/09: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505400080-1