'PROJECT' UNDER GUN REAGAN'S $85 MILLION PLAN FOR DEMOCRACY CHALLENGED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090065-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 65
• Publication Date: March 31, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090065-2
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER (PP
31 March 1983
Reagan!s $85: ~'illionp1a nn
democracy challenged
By Alfonso Chardy `' it is about legislation that, beyond I . ? One of the most controversial
inquirer Washirtpion Bureau
Latin America, proposes to teach En- items, at :S290.000,,,iseniitled.Supporx
WASHINGTON - Project Democra- glish to poor Africans; to back free -Tor the Free-Press iii Latin America.
cy, the Reagan administration's S85 labor unions worldwide; to finance a Though the bill mentions only schol-
million plan to counter Soviet propa- .-magazine.. named .Communications arship programs for 10 young Latin-
Banda by spreading;American,style_ Impact, that would "champion free American Journalists andtwoprofes-
institutions and ideas abroad, espe communications" lbj;build a s enter. rships in communications. 4&M
cially in the Third World.and Cen- w,forSotiet emigres;,to promotebu&, department officials-d "not Tole out
_tral America, is running intotrouble . ness through a Center for Free En- a possibility of providing moneyto
at home. terprise, and to establish centers for ',newspapers "struggling" in "undem-
Sen. Paul E. Tsongas'M.,'Mess.), a the study of the United States abroad iocratic nations."
:.tpember of the, Foreign ORelations in order Ito teach SUS democratic '`117n a March 2 hearing, Tsongas
Committee, calls,^'it "Project:,,,tight values. aquoted from -what he said wasan
Wing Democracy." Some of his mod- ' Here are some specifics of the main" :.official document suggesting that
prate and liberal colleagues express proposals -in the idea, first men- - the administration would ? provide
fears that it will become a new and tioned by the President in a speech ;funds to the Inter-American Press
expensive propaganda, tool of the ad- June 8 to the British Parliament: -Association through an intermediary
?t;tinistration, and they.. threaten..a ? Under the title Study of Demo- : -because the group, did not accept
.major fight that one Senate official cratic Principles and Practice for money from governments Asked if
says could cut the program' in half Military Leaders in =Developingila-' the administration--would "operate"
and "minimize its propaganda con- tions, $1.7 million would be spent to through the press association, Wick,
tent." show.military men the need for:pos whose agency would-manage Project
..Rep. JoelPritchard (R., Wash.) re- itive attitudes toward democracy" Democracy, replied. "yes." Later
:marked at a recent House hearing and an awareness that '4military-led Wick indicated that the association
-that the more he thought about the interruptions of the political process. was not being considered and that it
plan. "the more nervous I become can retard the development of a dem- was mentioned as an "illustrative
over it." Replied the witness before ocratic form of government." An ad- measure" only.
him, Secretary,-.of State George P. mininistration official said the plan `Another 51:1 million is for'financ-
Shultz, "Don't be nervous about de- would end the cycle of coups and P
mocracy, about holding that torch up countercoups in the developing ing, through the private Simon .,c
there" world, mainly in Latin America. "Ul- var Foundation here, a regiona
Charles Wick, director of the U.S. timately this would also assure sta- newspaper for rural popa;ati ons in
Information-Agency anda friend of ? bility in trouble spots such as" Cen- Honduras, Guatemala and El
tral America," he said. dor. "The newspaper would provide
President Reagan's, is widely'credit- ? About $800,000 is provided to ? ` information in such areas as family
ed with the idea of Project Democra- train Caribbean and Central Ameri- health, agricultural management
cy. Wick said of the plan, which he can students in American values be- and the merits of supporting democ-
first called Project Truth, "In a world cause such students "are more likely racy," according to the bill.
where freedom is under attack, the to be instructed in Marxist political
concept of human liberty and the . Other projects outside the hemi.
and economic philosophy than in sphere would spend S2 million for
concept of America are more compel`
democratic and free market econo-
ling and attractive than ever." regional institutes to provide techni-
What is all the talk about?_ cores. ? Some $3.2 million would create a, cal assistance and observers for nay
It is about a 44-point bill submitted bons holding elections for the first
to Congress on Feb. 23.that includes regional organization for Central time or after a coup; $i.5 million in
plans to educate potential military America and the Andes to teach area seed money to bring young leaders to
leaders so that they will?be discour- leaders such sophisticated democrat- the United States for briefings on
aged from staging coups,. to.`wean _ic techniques as party organization, , American` foreign policy and securi
Latin American student leaders away tcampaigning. fund-raising, polling, , y objectives; $10.6 million-to ?et up,
from Marxism and anti-American- ,media management, advance work. ,,American Studies Centers in various
ism, to finance a regional newspaper In other words." a critical congres- countries; and $885,000 to heighten
in Central America and to support sional aide said. "we would seek to ? understanding of democracy" in
journalists in the region who resist create little replicas of Ronald Rea- Eastern Europe.
control of the press by "Totalitarian gain or Walter Mondale in the hemi-
Vines;, Sphere." CONTPJJED
or authoritarian" re'
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090065-2
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090065-2
-Shultz and Wick say .the plan is.
vital to American security because it
seeks -to bring `stability to the Third
World and counter what they 'de-
scribed as a growing Soviet propa-
ganda campaign.
The critics remain unconvinced.
Some of them suggest that the_tegt
lation should require the admifiistra-
I iontospread democracy in friendly
r.r d ur.lriendly nations governed by
;~o h rightist or leftist regimes.
"I think that what bothers a lot of
people here in Congress is that.-this
.smacks .of,a.Jeturn to the:co1d War,-.,
times when the lCenttal Intelligence
Agencyl was involved in this sort of
stuff'covertly in-efforts to overtlmow
unfriendly regimes, to undermine
democracy," said an aide in the Sen-
ate Foreign Relations Committee.
To dispel (such fears. administra-
tion officials have stressed that the
CIA will have no say in the project,
although they acknowledge that it
was initially proposed as a covert
operation.
"There is absolutely no CIA con-
nection with this program;" said
Lawrence Eagleburger. undersecre-
tary of state for political affairs.
Any involvement is unneces-
sary. Support for democracy and
democratic institutions should be
open and totally above board. -
."We also know that as a practical
matter CIA involvement would kill
such a program. It would provide
those who have much to fear from
i?~e ,psi of democracy a pretext ,,o
discredit the entire project."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090065-2