REAGAN DENIES U.S. IS TRYING TO TOPPLE NICARAGUAN REGIME WITH ARMS TO REBELS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505400089-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 89
• Publication Date: April 15, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/09: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505400089-2
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE 4
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
15 April 1983
Reagan Denies U. S. Is Trying to T o pL
Nicaraguan Regime With Arms to Rebels
B)/a WALL Sre?F.T JOURNAL Si jff Reporter
WASHINGTON-President Reagan, try-
ing to quell growing congressional uneasi-
ness over his Central American policies, de-
nied his administration is trying to over-
throw Nicaragua's leftist government.
In a brief White House news conference,
Mr. Reagan leveled blistering criticism at
Nicaragua's leaders, accusing them of fo-
menting revolution in nearby El Salvador.
But be also insisted that his administration
'is complying with a congressional mandate
that bans sending any covert aid to military
groups for the purpose of toppling the Nica-
raguan regime.
"We aren't doing anything to try and
overthrow the Nicaraguan government" Mr.
I Reagan declared. At another point, he in-
sisted: "We are complying with the law ..
We're complying with that fully."
Mr. Reagan spoke a day after the House
Intelligence Committee announced J t will
summon Secretary. of State George Shultz
and National Security Adviser William
Clark next week for a confidential explana-
tion of U.S. activities in Nicaragua. Chair-
man Edward Boland (D., Mass.) said the
panel has "deep concerns" that the adminis-
tration is violating the congressional ban on
aid aimed at a Nicaraguan overthrow.
Rep. Boland sponsored the amendment
that Congress passed last year barring such
aid. But in recent weeks, armed bands that
claim to have gotten U.S. help have infil-
trated Nicaragua and fought sporadically
with government troops.
Mr. Reagan didn't directly address a
question about whether the insurgents are
getting U.S. aid. But he seemed to support
an explanation other officials make pri-
vately: The U.S. is providing some covert
aid to armed groups around Nicaragua, but
only so those groups can block shipments of
arms from Nicaragua to leftist rebels in El
Salvador.
"Anything that we are doing in that area
is simply trying to interdict the supply lines
which are supplying the guerrillas in El Sal-
vador," Mr. Reagan said.
One way the U.S. has been trying to
track air shipments of arms from Cuba to:
Nicaragua and from Nicaragua to El Salva-11
dor, officials said last night, is to periodi- i
cally dispatch Awacs radar planes to the
area. The White 'House stressed that the
planes have never violated. any country's
territorial airspace.
The president's argument is an attempt
to convince lawmakers that the admfnistra-
I -lion has met their concerns, even though it
might be continuing covert operations in the
area. Mr. Reagan tried to further douse
speculation that the U.S. is backing an at-
tempted overthrow by insisting the small
bands fighting the Nicaraguan government
aren't nearly powerful enough to topple Nic-
aragua's growing army.
The rebel forces consist of only a "few
thousand" guerrillas and Miskito Indians,
who live in northern Nicaragua, be said. "I
don't think it's reasonable to assume that
kind of a force could nurse any ambitions
that they can overthrow that government,"
Mr. Reagan asserted.
It isn't likely, though, that Mr. Reagan's
explanation will still the unrest in Congress.
Many lawmakers believe the armed groups
reportedly receiving U.S. aid want to do
more than simply stop arms from leaving
Nicaragua.
Rather, some in Congress charge, those
groups open) proclaim that their goal is to
seize power in Nicaragua. So, the lawmak-
ers assert, the administration is violating at
least the spirit of the Boland amendment if
it aids groups that have goals beyond arms
interdiction.
While insisting his administration isn't
aiming to overthrow Nicaragua, Mr. Reagan
did little to hide his disdain for the leftist
government there. He charged that it has
"become completely Marxist."
With Soviet and Cuban help, he said, Nic-
aragua has built "the biggest military force
in all of Central America and large parts of
South America." And he said it is thus possi-
ble Nicaragua may someday get advanced
Soviet fighter jets.
But he was vague when asked whether he
would like to see the Nicaraguan govern-
ment replaced. "What I might personally
wish, or what our government might wish,
still wouldn't justify us violating the law of
the land."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/09: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505400089-2