REAGAN SEES HILL LEADERS; PRESSURE FOR LATIN AID RISES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90B01370R000600860002-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 16, 2008
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 9, 1984
• Content Type: MEMO

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ARTICLE AppE;, .
OR FAGp,
By Joanne Omang
Wathtngton Post Staff Writer
WASHINGTON POST
9 May 1984
Reagan Sees Hill Leaders
Pressure for Latin Aid Rises
The Reagan administration yes-
terday stepped up pressure on Con-
gress to approve military aid to the
government of El Salvador, winning
an endorsement from the No. 2
House Democrat and springing a
moribund aid package from a House
committee.
Majority Leader James C. Wright
Jr. (D-Tex.), one of several congres-
sional leaders who met with Presi.
dent Reagan at the White House,
told reporters afterward it is "a pol-
icy of folly" to provide aid to El Sal-
vador to fight leftist guerrillas "on a
week-to-week basis" rather than pro-
viding "enough to win. We like to
give them enough not to lose .... I
think we ought to give them
-enough."
Meanwhile, Sen. Jesse Helms (R-
N.C.) charged that the CIA has been
funding Jose Napoleon Duarte, the
apparent winner of Sunday's pres-
idential election in El Salvador, for
the past two years. The charge could
hinder chances for approval of Rea-
gan's aid package, which has been
bi led as support for moderate forces
within El Salvador.
In a speech to the Senate, Helms
said CIA officials told the Senate
Intelligence Committee in a'briefing
last week about the aid, which in-
cluded direct funding, use of radio
and television facilities and technical
assistance. -
Helms, who is not a member of
the intelligence committee, quoted
the official as saying, "We did every-
thing but stuff the ballot boxes."
But Sen. David F. Durenberger-
(R-Minn.), a member of the commit- -
tee, said he did not remember any
such remark. The CIA officials, he
said, "gave us the impression there
had been some involvement, not
with any particular candidate but
with various parties."
Durenberger said the briefing left
him and other committee members
"horribly confused" because they had
been told earlier there was no CIA
involvement in any elections. He
said the committee had asked for
further briefings on the subject.
Reagan used two speaking engage-
ments yesterday to insist that U.S.
aid is crucial to help El Salvador
hold off Marxist guerrillas who could
ultimately threaten the United
States.. He has scheduled a nation.
wide television speech on his Central
America policy for 8 p.m. today.
Such continuing pressure has ap-
parently pried a Senate-passed pack.
age of emergency aid for Central
America out' of committee in the
House, according to congressional
sources.
They said a House-Senate confer-
ence will probably be scheduled next
week on the package, which provides
$62 million for El Salvador and $21
million for Nicaraguan contra rebels
fighting the leftist government.
House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip)
O'Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) -opposes the aid
and did not attend the meeting with
Reagan. Wright, splitting openly
with O'Neill for the first time, none-
theless predicted that some funds for
El Salvador will be approved.
"My feeling is that most people in
Congress do support the forces of
freedom in El Salvador," he said. "It
doesn't make any sense to have a
friend who is bleeding and refuse to
give him a tourniquet:"
Reagan made that point yesterday
to about 300 business executives of
the Council of the Americas, whose
members together do 80 percent of
all U.S. trade with Latin America.
If the United States does not help
Central Americans repel "Soviet-bloc
and Cuban-backed insurgents," Rea-
gan told them, "there will be grim
consequences to pay. It's not only
their security-, it's our security. If we
face a flood of refugees and a direct
threat on our own southern border,
it will not be'because we acted but
because we refused to do what was
necessary to avert the crisis."
'Langhorne A. (Tony) Motley, as-
sistant secretary of state for inter-
American affairs, talked openly to
the same.group about the role that
the CIA-directed mining of
Nicaraguan waters plays in U.S. pol-.
icy there.
"Mining is a part of the pres-
sure-economic, political and oth-
ers-to modify Nicaragua's behav-
ior" he said.
Motley did not link the. mining
directly to the contras, but when he
visits Nicaragua, Motley continued,
"they only want to talk about the
contras .... It's the biggest bar.
gaining chip out there."
Motley said U.S. policy seeks to
end Nicaragua's Soviet and Cuban
ties, to reduce its military arsenal, to
democratize its internal politics and
to end its aid to the guerrilla move-
ment in El Salvador, which Motley
said maintains a communications
headquarters in Nicaragua.
"If they don't know where that is,
we'll give them the street address.
It's in downtown' Managua," he said.
Reagan also brought up the de-
bate over Central America indirectly
in a luncheon speech honoring the
late President Harry S. Truman on
the centennial of his birth, recalling
that Democrats and Republicans
"were united in their opposition to
tyranny" during Truman's ,presider-.
cy.
A Democratic senator said he
thought Congress might approve a
small amount of funding for the
Nicaraguan contra program, either
to shut it down or to restrict it firm-
ly for use in stopping arms' ship-..
ments to the Salvadoran guerrillas. -
But a House Republican aide said
there is little zeal in the GOP for
fighting to save the contra program.
Senate Majority Whip Ted Stevens
(R-Alaska) agreed. "It's pretty clear
now that Nicaragua [contra aid] can.
not survive," he told reporters.
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ARTICLE AFFW. 1;D
cN PAGE,-_.4-;J .
elms says
CIA Wigged
election in
~l Salvador
WASHINGTON TIMES
9 May 1984
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., has
charged that the the CIA "bought the
election" of El Salvador's apparent
president-elect, Napoleon Duarte, and
the Salvadoran people should "take
whatever steps they deem necessary in '
light of the facts:'
El Salvador has had several military
coups in its history and Mr. Helms
added to the speculation that another
could occur, saying, "In assuming power
through a rigged election, Mr. Duarte
runs the real risk of touching off
another conflagration in a war-torn
land?'
Mr. Helms said Mr. Duarte, who is the
apparent winner of Sunday's runoff
election for president, is a "socialist"
who is "without a mandate to rule or the
arguments to produce national unity." -
In the same statement released last
night by his office, Mr. Helms said the
right-wing candidate, Roberto
D'Aubuisson, has been unjustly
accused of.links to death squads and
that he actually "espoused the princi-
ples of the Republican Party in the U.S."
Mr. Helms charged yesterday
that the CIA and State Department for
two years have funneled funds and other
assistance directly into Mr. Duarte's
campaign without Mr. Reagan's
approval.
No response was immediately
available from the White House or State
Department to the senator's charges.
Last week, Mr.Helms asked President
Reagan to remove the U.S. ambassador
in El Salvador, Thomas Pickering,
because he allegedly aided Mr. Duarte's
candidacy, but yesterday Mr. Helms
said the ambassador was but one player
in a larger drama.
Mr. Helms said that the funding
decision was made by the Interagency
Group on Central America that coordi-
nates policy in the executive branch. '
Mr. Helms said that the U.S. efforts to
control the election outcome under-
mine, "The whole purpose of our policy
in El Salvador ... to build democracy.
Mr. Helms said that the support
reportedly given to Mr. Duarte included
funds for 400 precinct organizers, a
model press operation, technical advice
and funds for the "computer voter reg-
istration system that disenfranchised
20 percent of the voters the first time
around?'
The United States aided in the voter
registration procedures, which were
opposed by Mr. D'Aubuisson's party.
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