PRESSURE FOR LATIN AID RISES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404420002-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 9, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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A"TI CLE APPEAR,
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000404420002-7
WASHINGTON POST
9 May 1984
Reagan Sees Hill Leaders
Pressure for Latin Ai
By Joanne Omang
Wathln?ton Post Staff Writer
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
billed 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."
STAT
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."--
risis "
Langhorne A. (Tony) Motley, as-
A.
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--tomodify Nicaragua's behav-
ior,-" be said.
Motley did not link the. mining
directly to the cotctras, 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 wirer Central America indirectly
in a Luncheon speech honoring the
late Pkesident Harry S. Truman on
the centennial of his birth, recalling
that Democrats and Republicans
"were united in their opposition to
tyranny" during Truman's presiden
cy.
A Democratic senator. said he
thou .gat 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 ments to the Salvadoran guerrillas.'
But a House Republican aide said
there is little zeal in the GOPfor
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.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000404420002-7