REAGAN SAYS HANDS TIED ON SALVADOR

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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00552R000505400090-0
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RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
November 16, 2010
Sequence Number: 
90
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
April 15, 1983
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OPEN SOURCE
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/11/16: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505400090-0 WASH'NGTONT TIMES 15 APPTL 1983 Reagan says han tied on Salvador d l h B S A!monJ C. Steve Snioe- 'JAS",S-ON TIMES STA F President Reagan yesterday came close to acknowledging U.S. support for anti-Sandinista guerril- las operating in Nicaragua, but said: "Anything that we are doing is aimed at interdicting these supply lines tof weapons to Marxist gueril- las in neighboring El Salvador) and stopping this effort to overthrow the El Salvador government" Reagan, in a 10-minute appear- ance in the White House press room. declined to provide details of the alleged covert CIA operation that is creating increasing congres- sional opposition. but he said the Vr:ted States is not violating the Boian.d Amendment, which prohib- its military aid to groups trying to overthrow the Nicaraguan govern- ment. Nevertheless. Reagan said he was hindered by the law. The Boland Amendment, he said: "is restrictive on the obligations that the Constitution imposes on the president.... But what I might per- sonally wish. what our government m,cht wish, still would not justify us violating the law of the land" Before he spoke, however, mem- bers of the House Foreign Affairs Committee indicated they would support further tightening of the Boland Amendment. And one Dem- ocrat congressman, just returned from a visit to Nicaragua, said he was told by U.S. officials in Managua that military supplies* moving across the Nicaraguan bor- der into El Salvador had stopped entirely within the last month - apparently before the U.S.-sup- ported anti-Sandinista guerrillas went into action. The president called for "per- spective" on the situation, saying Soviet aid has created, in Nicara. ; gua, "the biggest military force in Central America and large parts of South America:' versus, "a few thousand Miskito Indians and guer- rillas. "I don't thin it's reasonable to assume that that kind of a force could nurse any ambitions that they can overthrow that government with that great military force:' Rea- gan said. an o Far from relaxing t e Amendment, however, the House subcommittee on Western Hemi- sphere Affairs earlier this week voted to tighten it up, totally ban- ning military aid of any kind to anti- Sandinista guerrillas operating in Nicaragua, as well as cutting S50 million from U.S. aid requested for El Salvador. Yesterday the State Department strongly criticized the House action. "These actions regarding Nica- ragua would signal to the Sandin- istas that they could act with impunity regardless of how egre- gious their actions might become:' State Department spokesman John Hughes said. "Decisions of this type destroy the capacity and con- tinuity of our efforts. It also destroys confidence in our ability to pursue an effective foreign policy. "On the basis of consultations we've had with a wide range of members of Congress, we believe there's a broader understanding of the need for increased assistance to Central America as being in the national interest:' But that "broader under- standing" was not apparent yester- day at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing where the cred- ibility of Assistant Secretary Thomas Enders was under strong attack by Democratic congress- men. One of them. Rep. Robert G. Tor- ricelli of New Jersey, just returned from a trip to Honduras and Nica- ragua, said that contrary to the administration's allegations of weapons flowing through Nicara- gua to guerrillas in El Salvador, he was told by five top officials of the. U.S. Embassy in Managua that the supposed "flow" was, in fact, just a "trickle." In the last 30 days, he said the officials told him, there have been no weapons crossing the border into El Salvador. In the last 60 days there was virtually nothing, and in the last six months there was "not much" And as for the Soviet assault helicopters he said the Nicara- guans are alleged to possess, he said they had three: "One was for the pope, and one transpor me and Congressman Bedell (one of four Americans in the party):"Ibr- ricelli said. "The only danger they pose would be if they fall on your head" Torricelli also revealed that he and Rep. Berkley Bedell, D-Iowa, yesterday wrote a letter to Secre- tary of State George Shultz object- ing to vague administration suggestions that Nicaragua could become a site for Soviet missiles aimed against the United States. U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpat- rick mentioned that the Soviets were "toting and planning" for such a deployment in Central America on a TV program earlier this week, and in questioning yesterday En- ders alluded to the possibility that Sandinista leaders were seeking such missiles. "The people of our country de- serve to not be frightened by false issues and baseless charges which promote tension, confusion and fear," the congressmen wrote Shultz. Asked about the possibility of Soviet missiles in Nicaragua, State Department officials last night still were looking into the question. The administration says it has been hampered in presenting its views by laws preventing the public disclosure of covert CIA oper- ations. and at yesterday's hearing Enders appeared frustrated that all he *could say to Torricelli and other committee members is that he would arrange a confidential intel- ligence briefing for them. As the war of words deepened between Congress and the adminis- tration, there were these further d eves nmentQ' Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/11/16: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505400090-0