CONGRESS TALKS BACK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100980006-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: April 2, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100980006-9
NEW'SWEEK
2 April 1984
FOREIGN POLICY
Congress TaWs Bach
`Pure and Simple': The adnainistra-
tion's handling of the Salvadoran aid
request was similarly graceless. The
White House began the week with
rhetorical broadsides in support of
the $93 million measure. "I believe
it is being either naive or down-
right phony to express concern for
human rights while pursuing policies
that lead to the overthrow of less-
than-perfect democracies by Marxist
dictatorships, which systematically
crush all human rights," Reagan
himself told an audience of Cuban-Ameri-
cans. Although many people think the trou-
ble in Central America has been caused, at
least in pan, by widespread injustice, Rea-
gan blamed it all on "a power play by Cuba
and the Soviet Union, pure and simple."
Retraction: Opponents of the administra-
tion said it was trying to push the aid package
through Congress in a hurry, for fear that
Roberto D'Aubuisson, the alleged godfa-
ther of the right-wing death squads, might
win the presidency in El Salvador, making
further U.S. aid unlikely. But
some of the critics came a crop-
per. Robert White, the former
U.S. ambassador to El Salvador
who has conducted a passion-
ate crusade against Reagan's
policy, was tripped up when he
appeared before the Senate For-
eign Relations Committee. In
February, White named six Sal-
vadoran emigres in Miami who,
he said, were helping to organ-
ize and finance the death
squads. When White arrived at
last week's hearing, one of the
men on his list, Arturo Muy-
shondt, 35, popped up along-
Anna N/bOn
Carranza: Death-squad chief, CIA agent-or neither?
ago. NEWSWEEK identified him as retired
Col. Roberto Eulalio Santivanez, once
D'Aubuisson's boss in the security apnara-
tus. Although people who knew him de-
scribed Santivanez as an unsavory charac-
ter, parts of his story rang true. But it did ngt
help his credibility when the Times dis-
closed that Santivanez had been offered a
financial "safety net" by a group of liberals,
including White and Massachusetts busi-
nessman Philippe Villers.
Another of the tales told by Santivanez
came out in time to embarrass
the administration on the eve of
the Salvadoran election. The
informer claimed that Col.
Nicolas Carranza head oLEl
Salvador's Treasury Police,
one of the more notorious secu-
rity services, was on the payroll
of the Central Intelligence
Agency. Previously, Santiva-
Harry Mattison.->mm..Liaison
White: `In error'
side him. Muyshondt denied that hehad any
connection with the death squads, and his
lawyer said White was being sued for $10
million. The former ambassador conceded:
"It appears my source may have been in
error" about Muyshondt.
In another embarrassment for Reagan's
foes, it was revealed that a former Salva-
doran officer had been promised $50,000
for information connecting D'Aubuisson to
the death squads. The informant, whose
identity was an ill-kept secret, told his
story to members of Congress, to The New
York Times and to CBS News. Two weeks
nez had linked Carranza to the
death squads. The CIA de-
clined to comment, but the
Times said other . o ct
had confirmed that Carranza
"received more than $90,000 a
year from the CIA as an infor-
mant for the last five or six years." Carranza
insisted: "I don't know anyone in the CIA,
nor have I ever accepted money from the
U.S." He also said he was not involved with
the death squads.
The propaganda blasts from both sides
did not seem to change many minds in
Congress. Eventually, Shultz and Senate
Majority Leader Howard Baker worked out
a compromise with the Democrats. The aid
for El Salvador was cut back to $61.7 mil-
lion, still a political plus for the administra-
tion. Then, to the dismay of the Republican
negotiators, the White House repudiated
the deal. The culprit proved to be McFar-
lane, who had not been consulted on every
detail. Complained one Republican source
in the Senate: "They just will not let Shultz
act like a secretary of state." Soon the com-
promise was put back together again. But
the aid package-together with $21 million
for anti-Marxist rebels in Nicaragua-will
not be voted on until this week at the earli-
est, when results come in from El Salvador's
election. And if D'Aubuisson ends up in a
runoff with moderate Jose Napoleon
Duarte, Congress may decide to wait an-
other six weeks or so for the final outcome
before deciding whether to assist the new
Salvadoran government.
War Game: The prospect of further de-
lays during a runoff troubled the adminis-
tration, which feared that leftist guerrillas
would step up their attacks against a Salva-
doran Army that is running out of ammuni-
tion. Perhaps as a show of support for its
Salvadoran friends, the administration ad-
vanced the date of Grenadero 1, a military
exercise it had planned to conduct later this
spring in neighboring Honduras. The exer-
cise will bring 800 more U.S. troops to the
region by April 1, when the runoff cam-
paign may be under way. The maneuvers,
accompanied by the construction of two
more airstrips in Honduras, could cause
new friction with Congress over the U.S.
military buildup in Central America. Only a
few months ago, the White House was hop-
ing for bipartisan support from Congress on
El Salvador and other foreign-policy issues.
But with an election looming and with Rea-
gan's diplomacy in conspicuous disarray,
the president can no longer count on his
political opponents--or even all of his al-
lies-to back his play in every trouble spot.
RUSSELL WATSON with JOHN J. LINDSAY and
)OHN WALCOTT in Washington and bureau reports
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100980006-9