COLLAPSE OF TALKS CITED AS HELPFUL TO 'CONTRA' AID

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000705960004-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 13, 2011
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: April 9, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified
in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000705960004-4
ARTICLE A? t0
ON PAGE
BALTIMORE SUN
9 April 1986
Collapse of talks
cited as helpful
to `contra' aid
By Nancy J. Schwerzler
Washington Bureau of The Sun
WASHINGTON - A breakdown
In Central American peace talks
could strengthen the Reagan admin-
istration's hand in winning House
approval of $100 million in aid to the
"contra" rebels of Nicaragua, aid sup-
porters said yesterday.
But critics of the package said
there was no reason for them to con-
cede defeat.
The White House blamed "intran-
sigence" by the Sandinista govern-
ment of Nicaragua for the faltering of
peace talks among 13 Latin Ameri-
can foreign ministers meeting in
Panama during the weekend. Ad-
ministration officials said this
showed that Nicaragua did not want
a negotiated settlement.
"Nicaragua just said 'no' - I'm
not surprised by that," Elliott
Abrams, assistant secretary of state,
told a House subcommittee yester-
day. He said Sandinistas were "not
interested" in a peaceful settlement,
only in "crushing the contras."
The House, which last month
narrowly rejected the president's re-
quest for aid to the contra rebels, is
scheduled to renew debate on the
issue next Tuesday, and some aid
supporters said that the faltering
peace talks should convince the
House to support the aid request.
"With the apparent breakdown of
the [peace] talks and the Sandinista
incursion into Honduras, it should
now be clear to House members that
they erred when they turned down
the president's aid package," Senate
Majority Leader Robert Dole, R-Kan.,
said. He said the House should "join
the Senate," which narrowly ap-
proved the aid plan, in supporting
the rebels.
"Obviously, this was a setback,
but we're not conceding defeat," said
Representative William B. Richard-
son, D-N.M., a critic of contra aid,
who met with some of the foreign
ministers in Panama last weekend.
"We can win this vote ... this is
not over," he said, adding that he
would work with Democratic moder-
ates to develop an alternative to the
administration's aid request.
"The [Contadora] talks are havin~
a tough time," said Representative
Michael D. Barnes, D-Md.-8th,
chairman of the Western Hemi-
sphere Affairs subcommittee and
leader of the three House members
on the trip to Panama. The third was
Representative James C. Slattery.
D-Kan.
But, he said, "the difficulty in the
talks is an argument against U.S. aid
to the contras," because the Sandi-
nistas use attacks by the U.S.-aided
contras as an "excuse" to avoid
agreeing to a peace settlement.
"The two impediments to peace in
Central America today are aid to the
contras and Sandinista obstruction-
ism, both feeding on each other," he
said, adding that foreign ministers of
Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and
Panama - the leaders of regional
peace efforts - told the House
members they 'ehemently opposed"
U.S. aid to the contras.
Meanwhile, Mr. Abrams heatedly
defended the administration's ac-
counts of a Nicaraguan incursion in-
to Honduras last month just before
the Senate vote, but House critics
challenged those reports.
In a shouting match with Repre-
sentative Peter Kostmayer. D-Pa.,
Mr. Abrams said the incursion was
not "hyped" and was even "down-
played." Mr. Abrams said that secret
cables whit a House Into ence
Committee had not vet asked to see
proved the administration's state-
ments on the incursion.
"I don't ffiWiF people have the
feeling that we're getting an honest
report from you." Mr. Kostmayer
said, adding that his constituents
"regard the administration as simply
being highly untruthful on this mat-
ter."
"There seemed to be a great deal
more alarm about this in Washing-
ton than there was In Tegucigalpa,"
the Honduran capital, said Mr.
Barnes, who noted that some Hon-
duran officials went to the beach
while the incursion was going on.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000705960004-4