DISPUTES BLUR U.S. POLICY ON NICARAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000400010005-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 19, 2005
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: November 11, 1984
• Content Type: NSPR

ARTICLE APPEARED LOS ANGELES TIMES
ON PAGE_1,_4JVr1ved For Relealsle 3QQf&'4471$-RDP91-00901 R0004q
Disputes Blur
U.S. Policy ,
on NicaEagua.
Continued Split Seen
Over Use of Military
or Diplomatic Options
over issues. Sometimes it's over
people. Sometimes it's both...'.
It's something we have to work
around. It doesn't mean we don't
have an effective policy."
The struggle is not over El
Salvador, where the Administra-
tion believes the government of
President Jose Napoleon Duarte is
making clear progress in bringing a
five-year-old leftist insurgency
under control.
Rather, it involves Nicaragua-
specifically, whether a negotiated
compromise is possible with the
Marxist Sandinistas, and if so, what
kind of compromise.
Talks Fruitless So Far
By DOYLE McMANUS,
Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON-Almost four
years ago, the Reagan Administra-
tion resolved publicly to "draw the
line" against the expansion of Sovi-
et influence in Central America.
But as President Reagan approach-
es his second term, internal dis-
putes within the Administration
have blurred the line, especially in
leftist Nicaragua.
"What is our real policy?" a
Republican congressional aide
asked recently. "I keep asking, but
nobody can tell me."
Similarly, a leader of the U.S.-
supported Nicaraguan rebels con-
fessed. "I don't really understand
what the Administration is up to. It
looks mixed up to me."
Reagan authorized the State De-
partment in May to negotiate di-
rectly with them in order to learn
what kind of agreement might be
possible. But after eight sessions,
the talks have produced no clear
results.
A secret report prepared last
month for the National Security
Council noted the lack of progress.
"The situation in Central America,
particularly in El Salvador and in
the regional peace talks, is moving
in a direction favorable to U.S
interests, although difficult prob-
lems remain," the report said. "In
Nicaragua, the picture is mixed."
Secretary of State George P.
Shultz, who launched the negotia-
i
tions during a surprise v
s4t have offered no specific conces-
United in June, has said the
United States is pressing four broad sions in return, such as a resump- {
concerns in that nation: internal tion of economic aid and a with-
drawal of U.S. troops from
neighboring Honduras, where they
have been advising the Honduran
army and running a series of joint
maneuvers. The Nicaraguans say
,they fear that giving in to the U.S.
demands will simply lead to more
U.S. pressure-and, ultimately, the
overthrow of the Sandinista regime
that came to power with the 1979
overthrow of Anastasio Somoza,
;Nicaragua's longtime rightist
Continued
Different Stances
And no wonder. At the same time
that the Administration is negoti-
ating with the Marxist Sandinistas
who control Nicaragua, it is threat-
ening to destroy any Soviet MIG
fighter planes that are delivered
there and hailing as "freedom
fighters" the guerrillas who want
to overthrow the Managua regime.
At the same time that some U.S.
officials are advocating diplomacy
to advance U.S. objectives in Nica-
ragua, others are convinced that
the Sandinistas will respond only to
military pressure.
"There is. a basic struggle (over
Central America policy), and it's ,
going to continue in the second
term," an Administration official
acknowledged. "Sometimes it's..
democracy, a cuto o ai e
Salvadoran guerrillas, a reduction
in the -Sandinistas' military buildup
and an end to their military ties
with the Soviet :Bloc. Only last
week, the Administration warned
the Soviet Union against delivering
high-speed jets to Nicaragua, a
move the United States fears would
disrupt the military balance in
Central America.
But it is the American emphasis
on Nicaraguan democracy that has
proved particularly thorny. Lang-
home A. Motley, assistant secre-
tary of state for Latin America,
called democracy "an essential ele-
ment to improving relations among
the countries of the area.
"I don't mean that you take
Westport, Conn., Xerox it and put it
in Central America," Motley said.
"I'm talking about whatever sys-
tem is appropriate to the country
where people choose their leaders
through the ballot box."
But Nicaragua's internal political
system is precisely the issue on
which the Sandinistas have re-
sisted compromise most fiercely,
arguing that it is nobody's business
but their own.
No U.S. Concessions
Beyond that, newly elected
President Daniel Ortega and other
,Nicaraguan leaders have com-
plained that the Americans, while
.insisting on reforms in Nicaragua,
Approved For Release 2006/01/17.: CIA-RDP91-00901 R000400010005-1