U.S. IS CONSIDERING WIDENING ITS EFFORTS AGAINST AGGRESSION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090029-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: November 29, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090029-2
ARTICLE =
ON PAGE ~2
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
29 November 1983
U.S. is considering widening .its efforts
against Cuban aggression
By Alfonso Cliardy
Inquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - A senior adminis-
tration official said yesterday that
the United States was preparing a
more active policy to contain Cuba,
including possible resumption of co-
vert aid to rebels resisting Cuban
forces abroad.'
;Constantine Menges, a special as-
sistant to President Reagan and se-
nior director for Latin American af-
fairs at the National 'Security
Council, said the policy also may
include increased efforts to isolate
the regime of Premier Fidel Castro
and support for anti-Castro Cuban
exiles.
Menges. who until recently?served
in the Latin American division ofhe
C?IA, outlined the policy at a meeting
here organized by the Cuban-Ameri-
can National Foundation. The foun-
dation. controlled by Cuban exiles,
calls itself an independent, nonprofit
institution, promoting "an objective
view of Cuba."
Commenting on Cuban offers to
negotiate a rapprochement with
Washington, Menges said the admin-
istration was "always open" to nor-
malizing relations with Havana but
only when Cuba "stops its export of
subversion, its indirect aggression
around the world and its expanding
military collaboration with the Sovi-
et Union."
Menges said the government was
considering these steps for dealing
with Cuba:
? An expanded effort to "tell the
truth" about Cuba, its actions and its
victims in Latin America. Africa, the
Middle East and Asia. He said this
would include publicizing acts of re-
pression in Cuba and the economic
and social failures of the revolution
and focusing attention on Cuba's al-
leged role in drug traffic.
? An attempt to deepen the eco-
nomic and political isolation of Cuba
from the West as long as Havana
"continues its collaboration with the
Soviet bloc and other anti-Western
radical forces in this indirect aggres-
sion around the world.",
? A more "active program to con- ? those fighting the Cuban-backed re-
tain Cuba elp to thoserresdisting the tCuabans gtl;labor hng
and ola on plans to deepen
h
those supported by the Cubans." Castro's isolation, Menges said the
of the democratic ideal," ? he said.
Menges did not say whether the
administration would abrogate un-
derstandings with the Soviet Union
? A program of "political and sym-'
bolic support" to "democratic" Cu-
bans who wish to see democracy re
stored in Cuba. -
Asked whether this meant that the
United States would give covert assis-
tance to Cuban exiles to fight Castro,
such as was done in the Bay of Pigs
operation, Menges declined to be spe-
cific.
But he said that such support could
be indirect through other "demo-
cratic governments and transnation-
al institutions." He said the adminis-
tration was not promising immediate
military aid to the exiles.
"I emphasize the word 'consider'
... and I emphasize political. and sym-
bolic support in talking about that
element of the comprehensive ap-
proach," he said.
Menge suggested that this support
would not necessarily involve Cuban
exiles in the United States. "If one
looks around the world," he said,
"there are a number of democratic
Cuban exiles in many countries, not
only in the United States.
"One of the important elements of
a comprehensive policy toward Cuba
can be an effort by transnational
organizations, private institutions
and others to maintain the integrity
dating to the 1962 Cuban missile cri-
sis. The understandings reportedly
prevent the United States from spon-
soring attacks on Cuba as long as the
Soviets do not reintroduce nuclear
weapons there.
"gas-also '-would -not -,comment
on-..whether the administration
would seek the repeal of -congres-
sional restrictions prohibiting CIA
assistance to such rebel forces as
administration will increase efforts
to persuade Western European allies
.to cool their relations with Cuba by
making them aware of Havana's "in-
ternal repression and brutality and
its external aggression."
Menges also indicated that pres.
sure would be put on international
banks and financial institutions to
deny or tighten credit to Havana.
"The effort lisl to assure that the
Cuban regime does not receive from
Western democratic countries means
with which it then conducts indirect
aggression," he said.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090029-2