ADMINISTRATION SEEKS 41% RISE IN HONDURAS AID

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130060-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 60
• Publication Date: January 8, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
~ Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504130060-6
A_~,TICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE
~dinistration Seeks 4~1?l4 Rise in
~Iond~ras ~~d'
WASHINGTON-The Reagan
Administration plans to ask Con-
gress fora 41% increase in military
aid to Honduras but only a small
boost in arms aid to EI Salvador in
the budget being prepared for fiscal
1986, U.S. officials said Monday.
The large increase in aid to
Honduras, from $62.5 million this
year to a requested $8fi.2 million in
' the new budget, is partly a re-
sponse to Honduran leaders' com-
plaints that they are bearing the
brunt of the U.S. confrontation
with Nicaragua's leftist regime but
getting insufficient benefits in re-
turn, the officials said.
"The Hondurans are in the front
line, facing a major buildup of
Nicaragua's military strength and
they need more help." a State
Department official said.
The leveling off of requests for
aid to El Salvador-after several
years of huge increases-reflects
new confidence in the ability of the
Salvadoran army to hold its own ,I
against leftist guerrillas, they said.
The budget, to be submitted to
Congress en Feb. 4, proposes $132.6
million in military aid to El Salva-
dor in the fiscal year beginning Oct.
1, a 4% increase over the $127.2
million appropriated by Congress
this year.
E1 Salvador received a peak of
$197 million in U.S. military aid in
fiscal 1984. Under Secretary of
Defense Fred C. Ikle said recently `
that he expects aid levels to begin
declining soon because of the Sal- ~
vadorans' improved military per-
formance.
"The tactics have improved,
they're more effective and, very
-importantly, the Salvadoran armed
forces can now count on' a steady
flow of U.S. assistance," Ikle said.
No request is planned for a
supplemental appropriation of mili- ~
tary aid for El Salvador this year, ~
the officials said-the first time in
four years that no mid-year appro-
priationhas been asked.
,Hondurans Asked More
Neighboring Honduras, on the
other hand, has complained that its
needs are as great as El Salvador's
but that it receives far less U.S. aid.
Honduras. Central America's poor-
est country, has let CIA-backed
IVicara~uan rebels operate from its
territory and has invited the United i
States to build a complex of air-
strips and other military facilities
there in case of war in the area.
Honduran officials suggested last
year that the United States roughly
double its economic aid. But the
Administration's budget proposal
includes only a small increase in
economic aid to Honduras, from '.
$134.8 million to $137 million, U.S.
officials said.
A Democratic congressional aide
said it appeared unlikely that Dem-
ocrats will mount any significant
resistance to the aid proposals.
"There are no red flags there,"
he said. "None of the increases are
out of line. The support for EI
Salvador is still there (in Con-
gress)."
Total military aid to Central
America in the proposed budget is
$261.4 million, up from $231.4 mil-
lion provided by Congress this
year. Total economic aid is a pro-
posed $1.33 billion, up from $1.19
billion this year.
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504130060-6