US OFFERS 'MARSHALL PLAN' TO CARIBBEAN TO CHECK SOVIETS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000700060076-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 17, 2005
• Sequence Number: 76
• Publication Date: June 5, 1981
• Content Type: NSPR

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ARTICLE APPZAJUD
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
5 June 1981
ean tdct ecx z)owels
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By James Nelson Goodsell
Latin America correspondent of
The Christian Science Monitor
The Reagan administration believes that'd
United States-supported Marshall Plan for
the Caribbean is an idea whose time has long
sincecome
-There is, indeed,'a sense of urgency about
such an aid program -- a feeling that the US
must quickly find ways to counter. what the
administration sees as growing Cuban and So-
viet inroads into the area
During the past month, administration of-
ficials have quietly laid the groundwork for a
broad Caribbean aid package reminiscent of
The'admiiiistrat of has ;already provided 1 7`
'Proposals for a major Caribbean aid pro-
$69 million in aid to Jamaica under Mr. 'gram are not new. They go back to the 195Os.
Seaga. " ` Then, in the 196Os .Presidennt. 1{ennedy's All!-
But the planning underway is not limited .i ancei,for Progress was 'designed to i.wlo re-
to piecemeal aid programs to one or two is- ( solve Latin America's economic and social J1-
lands. It seeks: to. find ways- to bolster the {
lemmas and to counter some of Fidel Castro's
whole Caribbean area with massive projects
.for example, with desalination plants and
aid to small industry that fits the size of the
appeal.
In 1978_ the Carter administration consid-
_
ered a Caribbean aid program, but it never'
got off the ground. The Carter team's-failure
in this area may have been due in part to the
inability of his administration to figure out
just what the Cubans and the Sov iets were up
to in the region.
.'Moreover, the Carter administration was
unable to determine how visible the US should =.
be in the Caribbean and whether and how it
should compete with the ubiquitous Cubans-
At first Carter's men sought to do business
with Cuba. Later they adopted a contrary
policy, yet they were never happy with that
decision.
In contrast, there.is no hestitation on the
part of the Reagan administration. It sees'the
Caribbean as an area of opportunity for the
aimed at
is
under study
program
The
US.
social
'economic
and
sagging
than the
more
fortunes of the islands; the administration
wants to undercut Cuba.
Many island leaders, including Mr. Seaga,
view the planning in W ashmggton as boding
nothing but good for their economies. Seaga
-has informed Gen. Vernon A. Walters, the for-
mer de ut directory of the en ra Intelli-
gence-Agency, this. Waiters has beco
something of a State Department roving am-
bassador in Latin America.
-General Walters has made' three Tq -let
trips to the Caribbean in recent weeks to dis-
cuss local issues with people like Prime;Min-
ister Seaga. The result is that" Washington. is
islands. It may even include tourism-building
programs aimed at drawing North Ameri-
cans and Europeans.
lanning suggests
uiet nature of the
Th
p
e q
to Washington observers that the administra-
tion does not want to take away from Presi-
.dent Reagan's focus on his. domestic eco-
nomic package. They recall the early flurry.
over El Salvador in February, which diverted
attention from the. economic proposals and .
may have slowed the effort to win congres
sional approval of them.
But more aspects of the administration's
Caribbean views and strategy are beginning
the Marshall Plan that revitalized Western.
Europe at the end of World War II. President
Reagan has all along supported the idea of US
aid to Caribbean islands. He stressed this'
point again at a top-level White House. meet-
ing this week.
The core of the 'program, administration
planners say, would be economic aid, which
may total a billion dollars or more by the mid-
1980s. But it would also include political and
military assistance, according to State De-
partment sources.
The aid package might well take on a mul-
tinational approach, with oil-producing' na--
tions like Mexico and Venezuela contributing
to the venture. Preliminary talks on the issue
have taken place with both place.
The subject is expected to come up during
President Reagan's meetings next week _in
Washington and Camp David with Mexican
President Jose Ldpez Portillo. But a Mexican
role in the project is viewed as a long way off.
The administration has. informally_con-,
veyed some, of its thinking to the Caribbean
governments in'question?.- and in particular
to Jamaica, where Prime M nister Edward
Seaga privately has indicated strong, support
for massive aid.
Administration planners see 'Jamaica, as
the bulwark of its Caribbean strategy, a!na-
tion whose dramatic about-face in elections
Last October brought the pro-US.and pro-busi-
ness'Mr.. Seaga-to-'power. in-a massive. land-
slide. Seaga trouneed?a pro-Cuba government
headed`by gocialist Michael;ganly.;
to unfold:
Vice-President George B,lksh recently told
a lunch group that the ecorrdmies of the Carib-
bean islands "cannot be-sustained without in-
creased trade [and] private investment to ex-
pand -their economic opportunity.... Their
very independence,- may depend on such
Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr.
said "additional measures" must be taken
not in an exclusively security-oriented fash-
ion, but rather with a clear awareness that we
must also deal with the situations, the cause,
effects, that make insurgency and external
interventionism possible and acceptable in
the target areas."
It is. too early to' determine' just how the ..
strategy ;will develop, however; and there is
still a great deal of debate about it within ad-
ministration inner circles.
Two preliminary discussions at recent Na=
tional eaurity Council meetings ended. with
the subject being sent back to the drawing
boards - 'gird with some of the planners being-
told. to do~,rnore homework on the.issue. But.'
there is little question that there is going to be
a Reagan program for the region.
getting a steady flow of ideas from the Carib'-
bean itself as it goes?a~out the task of map-
ping its aid packagefor the region,
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ARTICLE Ar?ZAPYJJ
ON PAGE.
THE WASHINGTON STAR (GREEN LINE)
5 June 1981
tr
r. t T
Ambnrr. fin.
President Reagan yesterday nom- ?' froimll972 to 1976 and cameinto some'
inated retired Army Lt-,Gen. Vernon conflict.with the Nixon White House..
A. Walters; former deputy director of ` shortly after the .Watergate scandal:
the' CI ,G?,to- be, an:`ambassador" at.. begawto unfold.---'_=
large A? short time after the break-in at-
Walters,. 63, has alreadybeen car-, the; . Watergate offices of the Demoa''
vying out unheralded missions for^t'cratic :National Committee in, June
the, Reagan administration, includ- .1972, Walters and his CIA?.superior,'
ing one to Guatemala to improve re_ :Helms, were called to the"
lations?.between, the.?_United;"5tatesWhite House by aides of President;
Nixon... .;.;
Walters later testified- .that ; the..,
...,,White. House wanted him..to. tell-the,.
FBI not to look too deeply into some
aspects; of =the: Watergate; case~'be
op.
' ; cause it might expose certain CIA.
erations
Walters has served as a negotiator.'.
.-.with foreign governments under the,,-,Truman, Eisenhower and Nixon ad
~_mrinistrations. He played-a key-role
;: , in the. Paris -peace. talks on, the. Viet.:.
:.nam war.
Since early this year. Walters has,
been a senior adviser to Secretary of
State: Alexander M.` Haig Jr., for'
.,.,.whom .whom he will act as a troubleshooter:
An his new assignment:-.
~Vaslington Star Staff tVriter." ' i_1_____.._
::.? Walters was No::2 man at.the CIA..
arj.Y',r
_41;!_.ern.r,n1.'enraci1i antf:Pn,p ?
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ARTICLE APP ADD NEW 5 JUNE YORK TIMES
ON PAGE 1981
Reagan to Name General Walters
To Be an Ambassador at Large
WASHINGTON, June 4 (AP) =. Vernon
A. Walters, a retired lieutenant general
who has already made several unan-
nounced foreign trips for the Reagan Ad-
ministration, will be nominated tq an
ambassador at large, the White House?
announced today:,
General Walters, 64 years old, a farnxer
deputy director of the Central, Intelli
gence Agency, went to Latin America for
the Reagan Administration to try . to con-
vince friendly nations there, that the
Soviet bloc was deeply involved in supply-
ing arms to Salvadoran rebels.., He has.
since. made an unknown number of other
trips, but his coming's and goings gener
ally are not announced..
General Walters, who speaks. eight lan-
guages, served as an interpreter , to
Presidents,, Truman, . Eisenhower and;
Nixon-and accompanied Vice -President',
Nixon on his Latin American tour .in 1957,
when- Mr. Nixon's car was stoned.; and,.
spat upon in Venezuela.
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