U.S. SEEKS TO DETER LATIN TERROR PLANS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504150017-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 17
• Publication Date: October 25, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504150017-2
ARTICLE APPEA D
ON PAGE
WASHINGTON TIMES
25 October 1985
U.S. seeks to deter
Latin terror plans
By Rita McWilliams
THE MMSHINGTON TIMES
Intelligence reports show leftist
uert~'1 a in Central American
countries are training strike forces
to em to terrorists in El Salvador,
administration officials told a con-
gressional oan_el =lad"
Michael H. Armacost, under sec-
retary of state for political affairs,
told Congress the administration
wants $54 million to train military
and civilian police in El Salvador,
Honduras, Panama, Guatemala and
Costa Rica to counter terrorism.
He said the program is needed
because "of a rising terrorist threat
in Central America" that has
included the murder of four U.S.
Marines, two US. citizens and seven
other people in San Salvador last
June when a bomb exploded outside
a San Salvador restaurant.
The administration wants to tack
the bill onto the continuing res-
olution, a stopgap funding bill that
must be passed before Congress
adjourns. Moving through Con-
gress, and all but approved, is a $5
million appropriation for counter-
terrorism training in the Foreign
Aid Appropriations bill. That money
is mostly for seminars in the United
states:
The plan for the $54 million pro-
gram came under heavy fire from
members of the House Foreign
Affairs Committee yesterday who
say training police in Central
American countries has backfired
in the past.
Rep. Michael Barnes, Maryland
Democrat, said Congress eliminated
police training programs in pro-
Western Latin American countries a
decade ago because such programs
left the United States open to politi-
cal attacks whenever an incident of
police brutality occurred, and stig-
matized other U.S. aid.
"It's a risky program to get into to
... let's be very careful:' he told the
administration officials.
Rep. Gerry Studds, Massachu-
setts Democrat, said such programs
should be undertaken with "extraor-
dinary caution" and contended that
a drug enforcement team trained by
the U.S. government tried to over-
throw the government of Bolivia.
'Ibrrorists in El Salvador have kid-
napped 23 mayors and other officials
including President Jose Napoleon
Duarte's daughter who was released
unharmed yesterday after being
held captive for just over six weeks,
Mr. Armacost said.
Guerrillas were resorting to ter-
rorist tactics partly because Salva-
doran military organizations have
been successfully battling them in
the countryside, he said.
Other guerrillas are likely to ape
those attacks, he said, noting the
attacks could have "an echo cham-
ber effect." They think, "'What
works in one place will work in
another, " Mr. Armacost said.
The plan would authorize $27 mil-
lion for a specialized military coun-
terterrorism assistance program,
and $26 million for an assistance
Program to police. Another $1 mil-
lion would be allocated to help pro-
tect individuals who cooperate with
the United States in anti-terrorism
projects.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504150017-2