CIA SAID TO BE PLANNING FOR NICARAGUA PULLOUT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090022-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: April 13, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT . .-. .. - . .11 . -.. ----- ------------------ -
ARTI ?E A" 1.ARED PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
ON PAGE________ 13 April 1981+
CIA said to be p1anningror
Nicaragua pullout
a withdrawal of most of the estimat-
ed 6,000 counterrevolutionaries or
contras,o rata insiTae~1~1_i~c_arag cua,
actor frig to congressio nal soures,
'
because of serious _probl eas facing
President Reagan's two chief Central
Am ca ,programs.
"We have been advised that the
CIA already has begun to look at the
option of pulling out the contras," a
source in one con sessional intelli-
"It coinmf e?aSal `
is possible that this means that
the CIA las` concluded that the Con-
Kress simpleswon't releasg 4ALMQre
money and_>kiatitS beSl~o 'early
to get those _people outuof therg po
they re not killed."
Te House prepared last night to
Join the Senate in denouncing the
CIA-backed mining of principal Nica-
raguan seaports. It also was expected
to kill a request for $21 million in
emergency covert military aid to the
Nicaraguan insurgents and cut the
$62 million in Reagan's El Salvador
program in half.
The Senate voted Tuesday to ap-
prove a. nonbinding resolution call-
ing for a halt to the minelaying. On
Wednesday, the House Foreign Af-
fairs Committee overwhelmingly ap-
proved a similar nonbinding resolu-
tion.
House Democratic leaders also said
yesterday they would seek deep cuts
in new aid to the region.
The committee source said that -if
Congress did not approve more mon-
ey for the covert operation, the cur-
rent operational fund of $24 million
would be exhausted by the end of
May or early June.
Only a week ago, Reagan had
scored a major victory for his Cen-
tral America policies when the Re-
publican-led Senate voted 76-19 to ap-
prove the funds for the contras in
'Nicaragua and for ,El Salvador. -
But the atmo phere of bipartisaa-
ship o n Central America was Poi-
soneddover the weekend disclo-
sures of direct. CIA involvement in
the mining.
Tl1e TTouse Democrats yesterday
said they wanted to cut emergency
By Alfonso Chardy aid to El Salvador to $32 million -
I By Alfonso
on Bureau little more than half the $62 million
Reagan said was absolutely essential
WASHINGTON - The CIA has be- for the war against leftist rebels -
un preparing contingency_klans for and end United States assistance to
the contras.
In addition; 13 Democrats on the
House Judiciary Committee asked At-
torney General -William French
Smith to appointment a special prose-
cutor to determine if the administra-
tionviolated the law by sending co-"
vent aid to the contras. -
Led-by-panel Chairman Peter W
Rodino (D., N.J.), the Democrats said
Reagan and other high officials
might had violated the Neutrality
Act in aiding the rebels. The law
forbids U.S. citizens from supporting
or taking part in a military action
against a foreign country with whom
the U.S. is not at war.
It was not expected that the re-
quest would be honored at the Jus-
tice Department, which has 30 days
in which to reply.
Congressional sources said yester-
day that if Congress did not provide
the S21 million for the contras, the
entire covert operation would have
to be shut down. The CIA, under
current agreements with congress,
is prohibited from dippin into nto con-
tingency funds to continue financ-
ing the program.
However, one administration
source said earlier in the week that
Reagan was so committed to the Nic.
araguan operation that it was con-
ceivable that such a rule could be
circumvented, either by simply?us-
ing contingency funds, regardless of
agreements with Congress, or by
channeling covert money to the con-
tras through a third country, such as
Honduras, El Salvador or even Israel.
The 6,000 contras are part of an
estimated total of 15,000 rebels, oper-
ating in Nicaragua but also from
bases in neighboring Honduras and
Costa Rica, who receive U.S. support.
As for El Salvador, administration
officials hinted strongly yesterday
that if Congress did not provide the
$62 million for the Salvadoran armed
forces, Reagan would declare an
emergency and dip into discretion-
ary funds to dispatch the aid.
Senate Majority Leader Howard H.
Baker Jr. (R., Tenn.) supported the
anti-mining resolution, but said yes.
terday that he favored continued U.S.
assistance to the Nicaraguan insur-
gents and believes a majority of the
Senate agreed with him. The Senate
voted against an amendment last
week to reject the $21 million re-
Quested by Reagan for the contras.
House Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill
Jr. (D., Mass. ) said, however, that he
and other Democratic leaders in the
House were determined to eliminate
further aid to the Nicaraguan guer-
rillas and sharply reduce emergency
military aid to El Salvador.
When reporters in Dallas, where
President Reagan spoke yesterday
shouted that the Senate was against
him, he replied, "What else is new?"
In other developments, the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee post-
poned until after Congress returns
April 23 from its Easter recess any
action on the administration's five-
year economic and military aid plan
for Central America. The committee
is deadlocked over proposed condi-
tions for regional aid.
The looming battle between the
House and Senate over whether to
continue covert U.S. aid to the Nica-
raguan guerrillas will be fought in a
joint conference committee assigned
to draft the final compromise of a-
spending bill that includes funds for
Central America.
Coredm ed
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090022-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090022-9
The Senate grafted onto the bill the
emergency money for Nicaraguan re-
bels and the military aid to El Salva-
dor, which is battling leftist insur-
gents which the United States
charges are supplied with arms by
the Nicaraguan government.
"I think it (the bill) can be sal-
vaged," Baker said, but "I don't think
we are going to mine any more har-
bors."
O'Neill said he and senior Demo-
crats on the Appropriations and For-
eign Affairs Committees had agreed
to try to eliminate the Nicaraguan
rebel funds and cut Salvadoran aid to
$32 million. That figure would in-
clude $20 million for ammunition
and S12 million for ambulance and
medical evacuation helicopters.
The speaker said this would be
enough to keep the Salvadoran army
operating through 1984 in its battle
against Marxist-led guerrillas.
However, O'Neill said Secretary of
State George P. Shultz, when told
about the decision' to cut aid, ex-
pressed opposition and said he doubt-
ed that Reagan would accept it.
House Majority Leader Jim Wright
(D., Texas) said that although he
personally wanted more money for
El Salvador, "realistically speaking
the S32 million is the most we can get
from the House." He said he had
urged the administration to accept it.
Originally the administration
sought $93 million for El Salvador
but agreed to $62 million to secure
Senate approval.
The Associated Press also contrib-
uted to this article.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201090022-9