PRIVATE GROUPS REPORT SURGE IN AID TO CONTRAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000606200008-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: May 8, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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LOS ANGELES TIMES
` ARTICLE APPEARED 8 May 1985
00
1, F,'Iaa'id r~esdaY.that=the-Ad- 1 We have raised in the neigh-
'.,Spafir. ~
Private Groups , nlstratioq,,has*no~g to dory' borhood of $10 million in the last
r th'pr19_atefund.raisingefforts. nine months," Matamoros said.
? I:ij Still, senior officialss, speaking on "That is certainly not sufficient.
R e rt Surge in p. condition' that. they not be?.identi- i But it has enabled us to survive and
fled,=said;.they: are delighted that - to continue fighting."
Md Reagan's campaign for public aid to Nicaraguan Democratic Force
to Contras the :contras last month~;'andrthe chairman Adolfo Calero has said
,congressional:' rejection,,! have that he needs $50 million a year to
By DOYLE McM , '
lines 3WJJ writer
l ihelped,to ptimulate private contra-. sustain his guerrillas and to absorb
new recruits. The force says it has
"Obviously, we are pleased to see 15,000 men, plus 4,000 recruits who
private donors come into the still need training and equipment.
breach which Congress left," one Matamoros, Singlaub and others
official said. "We may end up involved in the fund-raising efforts
winning both ways on this thing, if, all declined to provide any specific
Congress reverses itself and pro- figures for their. receipts . or to
vides some aid, as well as the identify their major donors. How-
increased level of private contribu- ever, they said that Congress' re-
tions." jection of. Reagan's- request, fol-
.
The fund-raising organizations lowed by,"Nicaraguan. _ President
all said that they are providing only .:Daniel Ortega's visit to Moscow in
non-lethal supplies to the contras. ;.search of.Soviet.aid, had sparked a
Aid used for weapons or ammuni- wave 7 of new: contributions . and
tion might violate the Neutrality ;,inquiries:-c
Act, which prohibits promoting It also inspired the editor of the
war against a country with which ;Washington _ Times, `Arnaud de.
the United States is officially at Borchgrave, to launch a new or-
peace. ganization to try to replace. the
At the same time, some acknowl- money Congress turned down. De
edged that a major purpose of their Borchgrave persuaded the presi-
efforts is to provide non-military ;,.dent of the Washington Times'
supplies so the contras can raise parent company, Moon aide Col. Bo
money for weapons outside the -Hi Pak, to contribute $100,000 in
United States.... . +start-up money. ` .
"We get them, weapons and i The newspaper announced the
ammunition, but only from our new "Nicaraguan Freedom; Fund"
chapters overseas," said Singlaub, ,'in a front-page editorial Monday.
whose -World Anti-Communist ,By Tuesday, De Borchgrave had
League has members representing 'assembled a board of, directors
98 countries. .including Simon, Kirkpatrick and
. conservative scholars Midge Dec-
Previous Contributions Small ter and Michael Novak, and said
The contras have solicited ri- contributions were already coming
vale fundin since the e an ' in to the newspaper's offices.
ht'ng the Sandinistas in 198 . ~ The American people do not .
fighting
Until last year, though. contribu- 'want to see another Cuba in this
tions were small; the rebels de- hemisphere. De Borchgrave said
Rended almost entire on the CIA in an interview. "This is a, vital
for major supplies and inancial issue."
s~ De Borchgrave and Simon said .,
Last spring, Democrats in Con- the new group will be run inde-
gress began blocking the Reagan pendently of both the Washington
Administration's requests for fur- Times and the UnificatioU Church,
ther government funding and, after and will send human ntar n aid to
several lean months, the contras the contras and their families.
were forced to find sources of "Those people are seeing free-
support elsewhere. dom. They are in the pfpcess of
At first, contra officials have , being destroyed. They,., are op-
.said, they relied on help from other pressed. They deserve o 9r
friendly countries, including the said Simon, who served in the
pro-American governments of El -Cabinets of Presidents Richard M.
Salvador and Honduras. Gradually, , Nixon and Gerald R. Ford:. '
WASHINGTON=In a conserva-
tive backlash against Congress'
rejection of U.S. aid for Nicaraguan
rebels, private campaigns to fund
the contras appear to be gaining
momentum-with tacit encourage-
ment from the Reagan Administra-
tion.
Organizations raising monei for
the rebels against Nicaragua's left
ist regime say that contributions
have jumped noticeably since the -
Democratic-controlled House
turned down President..Reagan's ,
request for $14 million in aid two
weeks ago. =
And a newspaper affiliated with
the Unification Church of the Rev.
Sun Myung Moon announced Tues-
day that it has formed a new group,
led by former Treasury Secretary
William E. Simon and former U.N.
Ambassador Jeane.J. Kirkpatrick,
to raise $14 million to undo what
Simon called "Congress' cowardly
act."
Nonstop Phone Calls
"The telephone has been ringing
almost nonstop for a week," said
Bosco Matamoros, Washington,
representative of the Nicaraguan
Democratic Force, the largest con-
tra group. "The mail has been full
of checks. People want to do some-
thing for us. After what Congress
did, they feel betrayed and de- -
ceived." . ; ,
"We have - seen an increased
response ever since Congress vot-
ed." said retired Maj. Gen. John K.
Sin lau chairman of the conser-
vative World Anti-Communist..
League and a major private .
"The
?fund-raiser. for the contras.
:American people believe Congress
t.made''a'imistake to come down on
?ithe side of the Sandinistas."' ?_ r
.i ,Officially,- Reagan'- Administra
"_tion;,'spokesmen' say! they. neither
1encourage -nor. discourage , private
.,contributions to the contras. White
House' spokesman, Larry Speakes,
traveling. with President Reagan in
though, they built a network that
tapped into conservative organiza-
tions and donors in the United
States and elsewhere. . -
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" I, believe very strongly that
Congress behaved in a very cow-
ardly fashion. Whatever happened
to the Monroe Doctrine that' I
learned about as a kid?"
Simon said the new fund would
provide supplies 'directly to the
Nicaraguan Democratic Force and
acknowledged that it was born of
both political and humanitarian'
concerns. "We support the freedom;,
fighters' struggle," he said.
"If we are able even to provide
support to the refugees, this takes
pressure off . the fighting men,"
Singlaub said. "Many (of the refu-
gees) are families of the freedom
fighters. It is a morale factor. So I'm
encouraging all humanitarian ef-
forts."
He said his organization also has
provided small boats, outboard mo-
tors and boots from the United
States, as well as money for weap-
ons and ammunition from overseas
donors.
The Sandinista government, not
surprisingly, opposes the new ef-
forts to aid the contras.
"We believe. it'.'is unlawful for-
private individuals in this country
to finance military' acts against
Nicaragua," said; Paul Reichier, a
Washington lawyer who advises
the Managua rggime on legal is-
sues. "It is a criminal law violation
of the Neutrality. Act . . . and in
terms of sending money or supplies
for logistical purposes, these people
are plainly subject tc the possibility
of civil lawsuits from the victims,
which include the government of
Nicaragua, individuals and compa-
nies which sustain damage."
Reichier, however, said that the
Reagan Administration is unlikely
to invoke the Neutrality Act and
conceded that a civil suit could be
difficult to win. .
"It depends on the nature of the
aid," he said. "And you could run
into some problems '. . proving
that Jeane Kirkpatrick's contribu-
tion caused a specific piece of
damage."
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