EL SALVADOR: A TEST ISSUE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302640095-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 95
• Publication Date: February 14, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302640095-6
salICIEMO, NEW YORK TIMES
4141 PACI2 14 FEBRUARY 1981
El l ?
,? ? ? -
a vador:,A Test Issues ---
, .?
-
*U.S. to Use Purported Soviet-Bloc Aid to Leftists
,As Barometer for Policies Of Allies and Kremlin
e4.1, By BERNARD GWERTZMAN
? ? : spee.40-rbeNseyorenews ?
,
WASHINGTON, Febl13 ?The lteagan
Administration has decided to make what
itleeSita Soviet-bloc support for p Sal*
does hasdrgenti in early test of relations
A"- ''' 7,riwith both its allies ant the
--v- oviet Union:; -: ' ,:,.-.2
News . -.5 ,
: The decision and the back,,
UnalYstsy ,..iraunct for.ithave yet trY:tre-
officially announced, Willi
aiming days and weeks.the Administra-
tion will be making knosin, first to foreign
governments, then to Congress and lithe
public, the intelligencetbpa that it siltya
?
will how concl vely that the, So;ziet
Union, Vietnam, .Cuba ? and other bloc
caitries have sesgetly 'aided theleft-
iliig
guerrillas trjring to overthrow the
Government in El Salvador. ? '
It is not possible to evaluate independ-
ently the Administration's case in the?ab-
sence of the secret intelligence, informa-
tion. But what is clear is that the Reagan
Adstration?pushed on this issue by
Secretary of State Alexander ht. Haig Jr.
? has chosen to bring El Salvador to the
forefront of world attention and to make
attitudes toward the guerrilla' war there
an early barometer of relations with the
,United States. - ? - V/14.11,,?..k;
In particular; Mr. Haig IT said to see i
the Salvadoran situation as giving form
to the complaints he has been making
about Soviet "ezq)ansionism" and Soviet
violations of "an international code of
conduct" that he says the. Russians
agreed to at the 1972 summit meeting but
have violated since then.
, Since taking office, Reagan Adminis-
tration officials have talked of the impor-
tance of "linkage" in relations with the
Soviet Union. Now there is a concrete
Issue to "link" to future arms control
talks, aides said, and that is El Salvador. ,
.1be Administration is sending missions
t?atin America and Eurepe this week-
end and plans a "white paper" to give de-
taii.s.of its charges of Soviet, Cuban and
Vietnamese involvement in the guerrilla
war. [Page 6.1
, These moves show a kind of parallel to
thiArnergy? with which President Ken-
nedy attacked Cuba's meddling in other
countries and Soviet support for the Corn-
animists In Laos and Vietnam:. "
titt-J,be early 1960's, the United States
coax and coerce American
? frfends arcaux1 the world to respond as ac-
tively:to the perceived threats as the
United States was doing. The United
States succeeded in isolating Cuba within
the hemisphere, but the concerns about
Indochina eventually, produced direct
American military involvement there.
The possibility that El Salvador could
become another - Vietniun has been a
source of concern for 1l1es of the United
Stated.Nesteiday, Mr alg, in a meeting
with-Foreign Ministe mill? Colombo of
Italy., said. - t ? going to be
dragged into another Vietnam, but the
problems will be dealt with at the source
f the difficulty." - - ? - ? ?,..
That statement' suggests a willingness
by the United States to confront what it
says is Communist involvement in El Sal-
vador or in places other than El Salvador.
:But officials sought to discourage specu-
lation about blockades and other actions.
They said the purpose of Mr. Haig's com-
ment was to assure Mr. Colombo that the
United States did not intend to use its ov.rn
forces in El Salvador. -,? -
Mixed Response Expected
The campaign over El Salvador has
some major risks for the Reagan Admin-
istration. Inevitably it will provoke a de-
bate about the quality of the intelli
Information, particularly on the degree of
Soviet involvement in the guerrilla war. ?
Te.- concern of the .Acirninistration
about El Salvador vilI probably produce
,
mixed responses in Europe- and Latin
America. Many allied leaders, like the
Italian Foreign Minister, might temper
their support for the firm line in Washing-
ton with insistence that the United States
also show readiness to resume political
discussions with the Soviet Union soon.
? Mr. Haig has affirmed the American
agreement to discuss mutual missile-
force reductions in Europe with the Rus-
sians, in keeping with the allied decision
of December 1979 to deploy new genera-
tions of missiles there.
But the impression being created by'
the Administration is that such arms con-
trol talks must await a more conciliatory
attitude by the Russians. In Mr. Haig's
words, the Soviet Union should agree to
adhere to an "international code of con-
duct" -? ?
Mr. Haig's sfrokesman said today that
"we will proceed with improvement of
our defense capabilities and we in to
. _
conduct our relations with the Soviet
Union on the basis of reciprocity and re-
straint." ?
Officials suggested that Washington
would watch closely, for example, what
the Russians did in Poland and Afghani-
stan and whether Cuban troops began to
leave Angola and Ethiopia. -
As to the "code of conduct," officials
said that they did not know whether Mr.
Haig intended to press for Soviet reaffir-
mation of the 1972 document or for agree-
ment on a new one. The 1972 document,
known as "The Basic Principles of Rela-
tions," was signed in Moscow by Presi-
dent Nixon and Leonid I. Brezhnev, the
Soviet leader.
It said that both sides agreed that "ef-
forts to obtain unilateral advantage at
the expense of the other, directly or indi-
rectly, are inconsistent with these objec-
tives."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302640095-6