2ND AMBASSADOR JOINS CRITICISM OF REAGAN TEAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100060004-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: December 12, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST -Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/24: CIA-RD
A1-1 T 1 C I.
0::l F
THE WASHINGTON POST
12 December 1980
2nd Ambassador.
Joins Criticism.
Of Reagan Team
- By Christopher Dickey -
- wow', gran Poet Foreign Service
SAN? SALVADOR, Dec..- 11
Ambassador to Nicaragua Lawrence
Pezzullo today joined Ambassador td
El Salvador Robert White-in. accusing
persons claiming to- represent the
Reagan transition team of undermin-
ing their. authority in Central America
and worsening grave Crises.- . :
In unusual on-the-record statements
by telephone from Managua,'Pezzullo,
a career diplomat who is in his second,
?anlbassadorship, iaidleaks -from the
? team- of -- President-elect- -Ronald
Reagan- on proposed policy, and Visits
here by people allegedly portraying
themselves as Reagan's emissaries,
"undercut you in the midst of a deli-
cate situation.
"It is disturbing, and. I don't think
it serves the transition, and r don't
think it serves Reagan," Pezzullo said.
"It's certainly not a smooth way to
? take over the reins. I, feel sorry for
? Reagan." He said the president-elect
"should have the best professional-ad:-
vice became of the sensitivity of the
In another recent conversation,i.ez
zullo said he fears that the right wing
. of the Republican Party may force the
Reagan administration to "feed". it by
letting it "eat. up Latin America..-_It's
cheaper than some other places like
?the- Addle East, the Soviet Union.iii
China, where no president is going to
have much room -fors radical pulley
changes.' -
The immediate . cause of White'.
and Pezzullo's -outrage is a reported
"hit list" prepared by Reagan advisers
naming' envoys for immediate removal 1
.as liberal "social reformers." White
and Pezaillo were on the list?
-
P91-00561R000100060004-1
Robert Neumann, head of Reagan's State Depart-
merit transition team, could not be reached for corn-
merit today. Earlier this week, however, Neumann
said the "hit list" published after it was leaked last
? Week, was only a "first cut" draft composed by indi-'
vidiial team members and was neither policy nor
even a recommendation that would necessarily be
passed on to Reagan. _
? Neumann and other transition team members al-
so denied having sent
.;
mer P ot leer wi ties o e team, as an ems-
? sary to central America last week. Di Giovanni also
,denied in Washington that he had portrayed himself
as representing Reagan? . - ' ?
Pezzullo said that Di Giovanni had shown up in
-Nicaragua, as well as El Salvador, last week and had
,ficiet. With a number of people as a Reagan emissary,
.'and-that he is not the only person to have done so
in the last several months. . ? ;
--`-`This has been going on .for a long time and for
;the -Reagan people to say now that 'these guys don't
:SPealt for us' is kind of lame," Pezzullo said, "I don't
bUy-that for a second."' . ? ?- -. ? ?
Both White and Pezzullo say they fear that deli-
Cate Political situations in the region will be upset
by spreading reports" that Reagan Will support a
,right-wing takeover in El Salvador and will seek to
;drive the leftist Sandinistas from control in Nicara-
gua-
More important, Pezzullo said today, he feels the
/regional situations will move so rapidly on the basis
of -Such reports that Reagan .will have few options
by-the time he is inaugurated. ? ? ' ? '
-The Republican Party platform, and numerous
.Reagan spokesman, have Said they believe the Ni-
caraguan government is Marxist- and Cuban-
controlled. They have called? for an end to the Car-
ter administration policy of supporting the Sandinis-,
tas. . . ?
On Et 'Salvador, Reagan officials have said they
.belieie- the military should be strengthened to quash
a leftist threat, despite widespread reports that thol
`niilitarif 'itself' is engaged in repression and murderagaihst the civilian populace. " ?
.--White said on Tuesday that ? interference from
-Reagan advisers and hangers-on who claim to speak.1
'kr hi .has seriously increased the chances of out ?
?right:Civil war in El Salvador, where the administra
,tiori?has supported wide-ranging social and economic.
reforms in an effort to diffuse the appeal of the left.
'White and Pezzullo are veteran foreign service of-
ficers..,...-,.-Pezzullo has served under every adminis,1
iraticid since Dwight D. Eisenhower with decadet0
Of 'experience in Latin America. Both indicate they
have put their immediate futures .on the line. by
-speaking 'out'
?Thek-tharacterize the. currerit..eitiiitiOn in Latir
..Aerica;ii 'requiring *pragmatism and not. doctri-
naiie'15?5staring-.?...;--,:!??1---._-..74.,e"?..E.--,4-..t,.:rs- .
. ?
Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/24: CIA-RDP91-00561R000100060004-1