LATIN PEACE TALK MOVE VETOED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504870037-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 23, 2012
• Sequence Number: 37
• Publication Date: February 16, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/23: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504870037-1
16 February 1986
Latin Peace Talk Move Vetoed
Administration Expected to Ask $130 Million in Aid for Contras
By Joanne Omang described as "two cards you can use" to persuade Nic-
washington.Post surf writer aragua to return to the Contadora table: The United
States would reopen bilateral talks with Nicaragua if,
The State Department proposed earlier this month Nicaragua opened bilateral talks with the contras, and
that a gesture be made toward Nicaragua aimed at re- the United States would "take into consideration" any
juvenating Central American peace talks, but the idea change in-Sandinista behavior toward its domestic crit-
was vetoed last week by the White House and Defense ics.
Department, according to administration and diplomatic ".Eyes glazed over around the table," a U.S. diplomat
officials. reported. The positions represented no change from
The White House rebuff led to what one Latin dip- longstanding U.S. demands and were greeted with si-
lomat called "a stone wall" from Secretary of State lence, other observers said.
George P. Shultz during his meeting last Monday with According to sources, the ministers had argued be-
the foreign ministers of eight Latin American nations. fore they arrived that they were putting new pressure
In fact, they said, the U.S. position appears to have on Nicaragua to liberalize its political systeth in the
hardened, as indicated by the fact that Shultz and his wake of "some unbelievably stupid things the Sandinis-
subordinates called the leftist Sandinista government tas did," as one diplomat put it.
"the Nicaraguan communists," while referring to the Those included supplying arms to the M19 guerrillas
antigovernment rebels-usually known as "contras"- in Colombia for their November takeover of the Palace
as "the true Sandinistas." of Justice, and then sending Interior Minister Tomas The administration is ex ted to ask Congress soon Borge to an M19 memorial service for those killed in
for 3100 million in covert military assistance tote con- the shootout. Borge has said he was tricked into attend-
tras, plus milli-on in umanitarian ai entagon ing, "but we don't believe him," a prominent Latin dip-
ana ysts have to members of Congress that the 5,000 lomat said.
contras who had been fighting in Nicaragua have been The Latins said the suggested U.S. measures would
"exfiItrating" recently because of repeated defeats and be only gestures to allow Nicaragua to save face and
a lack of supplies. About 2,000 have left, and the rest return to the bargaining table it abandoned last Decem-
are in danger of being driven out "over the next month ber. Without any sign of flexibility from Washington,
to six weeks" without renewed aid, congressional they said, the three-year-old Contadora peace talks
sources say they have been told. were doomed.
The military situation will be a key argument when The sources said that after considerable debate in
the administration makes its request to Congress for the State Department, Shultz had suggested to the
White House that the United States go ahead as
new aid Some in Congress dispute the Pentagon's as-. planned with a request to Congress for new contra aid.
sessment of the military situation. For example, Sen. But he wanted to offer to hold off using it-assuming it
David F. Durenberger (R-Minn.), chairman of the Sen- was obtained-for 30 days on condition that Nicaragua
qte intelligence committee that must pass on any covert return to the Contadora talks. The hold would last as
aid request, termed reports that the contras are about
long as the talks made progress.
to be driven out of Nicaragua "baloney." This position was an echo of an offer President Rea-
Durenber er said he was against new military aid to gan made last April to use proposed U.S. military aid to
the contras. "They can forget it as tar as m con- the rebels only for nonmilitary purposes-food, cloth-
c rned. ; he said. "I haven't seen any justification for ing and medicine-as long as Nicaragua negotiated
moving to military aid at this point, either overt or cp- with the rebels toward elections. The Sandinistas re-
v later
t. ?. jected that proposal and so did Congress, which
M'iitisteis"of the Contadora group-Mexico, Panama, gave Reagan $27 million in nonmilitary aid for the con-
..Colombia '. apt1 ;. Venezuela=and the four "Contadora tras with no negotiating strings attached.
Support Ptodp" nations of Brazil, Argentina, Peru and The White House rejected the newer version last
Uruguay had asked for the Monday meeting with Shultz week, "in part out of fear that the Sandinistas would
to press him to delay plans to ask Congress for at least accept it this time" and open negotiations with the coo-
$100 million in new aid to the contras, or counterrev- tras, one State Department source said. The proposal
olutionaries. was also-rejected by the Defense Department because
They also wanted the United States to reopen talks of concern that the contras' military situation is wors-
with the government of Nicaragua. ening and that renewed U.S. military aid is urgently
Shultz refused, offering instead what one participant needed.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/23: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504870037-1