REAGAN SAYS HANDS TIED ON SALVADOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505400090-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 16, 2010
• Sequence Number: 90
• Publication Date: April 15, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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
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B
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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