REAGAN TO PUSH AID FOR DUARTE'S MILITARY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807300020-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 11, 2012
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: June 21, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807300020-5
ARTICLE >.RED
ON PIGE,
WASHINGTON POST
21 June 1985
Reagan
to Push Aid
For Duafle's Military
U.S. Retaliation for Attack Ruled Out,
But El Salvador's Efforts to Be Backed
By Joanne Omang
and Michael J. Weisskopf
washme- Pbae stet ww.,.
The Reagan administration said
yesterday it would seek additional
military and other assistance for El
Salvador as part of the U.S. re-
sponse to the murder of 13 people,
including six Americans, in a San
Salvador cafe Wednesday night.
White House spokesman Larry
Speaker called the killings "an act of
indiscriminate terrorism." He ruled
out any direct U.S. military retal-
iation, but pointedly did not rule out
such an effort by El Salvador.
"That's the only purpose and ob-
vious purpose" of beefed-up U.S.
aid, Speakes told reporters at a
briefing. "We have confidence in El
Salvador to deal with this problem."
Later in the day, he said, "We are
prepared ... to provide them with
the assistance they need to do the
job themselves."
Speakes said he "strongly sus-
pects" that the attackers were left-
ist guerrillas dressed as Salvadoran
soldiers. He said the administration
had dismissed the possibility that
they might have been members of
the Salvadoran security forces,
which have been involved in terror-
ist attacks in the past.
Pentagon spokesman Michael I.
Burch said the cafe killings were an
"act of barbarism" that apparently
reflects a decision by Salvadoran
rebels to step up urban attacks af-
ter suffering military setbacks in
rural areas.
"Although no one has yet claimed
responsibility for this act," Burch
said, "it has all the appearance of
leftist terrorism that has been on
the increase in recent months as a
reaction to the guerrillas' military
reversals in the countryside."
Both men said, and other sources
confirmed, that the attackers shot
first at two tables of Marines and
then sprayed bullets in every direc-
tion.
John C. Kelly, deputy director of
Agency for International Develop-
ment's office of information re-
source management, who has
worked on computerizing Salvador-
an elections since 1981, said here
that five of the dead, including the
two American civilians, were all
employes of Wang Laboratories
Inc., of Lowell, Mass., and its Sal-
vadoran subsidiary, which was do-
ing work for AID, and that the five
were at a table next to the Marines.
"A survivor. Mario Lopez, also
with Wang, told me [by telephone[
it was clear to him that the target
was the Marines," Kelly said. "He
said they [the attackers] looked at
the other table and when they saw
Americana there, they went for
them as well."
Kelly said the Cafe Mediter-
ranee, one of a string along the
street, was a popular hangout for
the Marines and AID people and
that the Marines had been sitting at
outdoor tables for nearly two hours
when the attack occurred.
State Department spokesman
Bernard Kalb told reporters that
the U.S. Embassy had a policy "pro-
hibiting employee from eating at
outdoor cafes" and all personnel had
been briefed on it.
Speaker read a statement by
President Reagan prooniring to "Im-
mediately provide whatever assist.
ance is necessary" to the govern.
meat of Salvadoran President Jose
Napoleon Duarte "to find and pun-
ish the terrorists who perpetrated
this act."
Reagan promised expedited de-
livery of aid now in the pipeline and
said he would use his emergency
authority if necessary to provide
"additional military assets."
Congress approved $128.2 mil-
lion in military aid for El Salvador in
fiscal 1985 and is considering an ad-
ministration request for $132.6 mil-
lion for fiscal 1986. Reagan's state-
ment said be would consult with
Congress on the next steps, which
are expected to include a supple-
mental appropriation request for
this fiscal year. Congressional staff
members said no request had yet
been submitted.
Speakee said the FBI might pro-
vide technical hslp in determining
responsibility for the attack, a? well
as unspecified increases in intelli-
gence capsbrHty. Burch said he
knew of no plans to increase the
number of U.S. milikary, trainers in
the Central American country be-
ymd the admi hnration's salt-im-
posed ceiling of 55.
"The buahese of intelligence and
in
Asked whether the off-duty Ma-
rines had been armed, Burch said
off-duty Marines stationed outside
San Salvador have permission to
carry personal weapons for self-
defense, but Marines in the capital,
including the four killed Wednes-
day, cannot.
Burch said the U.S. ambassador
has discretion to permit sidearms
and restrict movement of military
personnel in risky areas of El Sal-
vador, although the area where the
shooting occurred, near the U.S.
ambassador's residence, was
thought to be "relatively safe."
House Minority Leader Robert
H. Michel (R-Ill.) said in a speech to
the House that the killings ere
part of "the inevitable terror" of
communism.
"The trigger was pulled by the
Sandinista leadership in Managua,"
he said, referring to the leftist gov-
ernment of neighboring Nicaragua,
which the Reagan administration
has repeatedly called the chief arms
supplier to the Salvadoran guerril-
las.
Csntinu d
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807300020-5