PRESIDENT REAGAN'S SPEECH TO WESTERN HEMISPHERE DEMOCRATIC LEADERS--JANUARY 24, 1985, PRESS GUIDANCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87M00539R001602440020-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 25, 2009
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: January 25, 1985
• Content Type: MISC

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President Rea an's Speech to Western H!~:nispher.e Democratic
a ers-- anuar , , ress ui ance
This morning the President spoke to a group of Western Hemisphere
legislative ;leaders from 21 democracies and reaffirmed his three
mutually reipforcing policy purposes in Latin America and gave
examples of VS actions under each:
(1) encouragement of democracy;
(2) efforts to improve living conditions and the economies;
(3) helping friendly governments defend themselves against
Soviet bloc, Cuban/Nicaraguan-sponsored subversipn.
Essentially all elements of the speech repeated statements the
President has made in his many previous speeches on Latin
America including his May 8, 1984 speech to the Council of the
Americas (where he gave an overview of his policy in Latin
America), his May 9, 1984 speech on Central America delivered on
national television and his December 4, 1984 welcoming statement
to President Lusinchi of Venezuela.
Q: Support for Nicaraguan freedom fighters apd the right of
self-defense under international law--a npw'argupent?
A: Note the President was speaking generally about Any
countries which might be supporting the freedom fighters; he
was not speaking specifically about the UF. The two
sentences on this in the January 24, 1985 speech were as
follows;
"The subversion we're talking about violates international
law; the Organization of American States, irk the past, has
enacted sanctions against Cuba for such Aggressipn, the
Sandinistas have been attacking their nei,Phbors through
armed subversion since August of 1979. gpug,terinq this by
supporting Nicaraguan freedom fighters is essentially acting
in self-defense and is certainly consistept with the United
Nations and OAS charter provisions for individual and
collect%ve security."
Recall that in his May 9, 1984 speech on national television
the President said the issue is our effort to promote
democracy and economic well-being in the face of Cuban and
economic aggression aided and abetted by the Soviet
Union..,if the communists can start war against the people
of El Salvador,... then El Salvador and its friends are
surely justified in defending themselves by blocking the
flow of arms. If the Soviet Union can aid and abet
subversion in our hemisphere, then the US has a legal right
and a moral. duty to help resist it." (the President, may 9,
1984)
"c350P
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Both the UN and the OAS charter provide "at in the case of
aggression by one state, member nations retain the right to
exercise measures of individual or colleqltiye self-defense
in the absence of definitive actions by gfithcr the UN or the
OAS to halt the initial aggression. The President is saying
that the test of legitimacy is which is the defending side,
and he,concludes that Nicaragua is the iiit*ator of the
aggression against: its neighbors through armed subversion
which began in August 1979.
Since 1959, the OAS has sanctioned Castrq,Cuba a number of
times for its export of subversion, which, the O1,S has
considered a form of armed aggression. For example, in
1964, the 9th Meeting of ConstAltation of the OAS Ministers
of Foreign Affairs established, among itq conclusions, that
"the Republic of Venezuela has been the target of a series
of actions sponsored and directed by the Government of Cuba
openly intended to subvert Vetlezuelan institutions and to
overthrow the democratic government of Venezuela through
terrorism, sabotage, assault and guerrilla warfare and that
the aforementioned acts, like all acts of intervention and
aggression, conflict with the principles an4 aims of the
inter-American system (and therefore) resolves to declare
that the acts verified by the investigating committee
are considered an aggression and an intervention on the part
of the Government of Cuba in the internal affairs of
Venezuela which affect all the member state;" (of the OAS).
Q:
Is he trying to take the defense of the Contra aid a step
further by calling it "self defense" which he did this
morning?
A:
The President said that support for the freedom
would be "essentially acting in self defense".
fighters
The
President has made the point before (see above), and he was
referring to the right of countries that are under attack by
armed subversion to take countermeasures.
Q: The Secretary of State has said, I think, categorically in
public that the law is being observed and that we are not
now giving aid even to third countries to pass along to the
Contras, is that the President's statement also?
A: The Secretary of State said, last Sunday, that the United
States monitors aid it gives to third countries to see that
it is used for the purposes intended. The Secretary of
State also said that what third countries decided to do with
their own resources is for their sovereign right. The
President made no comment in the January 24, 1985 speech on
whether the US has provided support to the Nicaraguan
freedom fighters. However, you can be sure the
Administration is complying with US law.
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Q: How does the President feel about support for the Contras
from other Latin American countries?
A: He clearly feels that any governments whiqh may be
supporting the Nicaraguan freedom fighter% are acting
legitimately under the right of individual, and collective
self-defense. This does not mean that we are confirming
that any Latin American governjment is prgviding any such
assistance.
Q: I know you don't exercise control, but ttlp President said in
his statement it behooves all of us who 4iel4eve in democracy
a, freedom to stand side by side with thq,,se who are fighting
for it. what does that mean?
A: In his flay 9, 1984 speech on qational telev$sion, the
President said the US must.stpport both the elected
government of El Salvador and the democratic: aspirations of
the Nicaraguan people". Most of the Pre4,ident's speech
today was about U$ support for the strengthening and
expansion of democratic institutions in the Western
Hemisphere--that is what the President meant.
0: On the military or subversive threat in Central America--has
anything improved or is the threat as big; as it was four
years ago?
A: There has been a great deal of progress: democratic
institutions are stable in Costa Rica, there has been a
peaceful return to democracy in Honduras, E4 Salvador has
had three genuinely democratic elections, and Guatemala is
in the esidst of a transition back to con$titutio,nal
government. However, the Soviet bloc/Cu"n/Nicaraguan armed
subversion against the Central American Countries continues
as does the Nicaraguan military buildup end its failure to
implement the 1979 commitment to the OAS for real democratic
elections in Nicaragua.
Q: After three years of fighting, what have the Contras
accomplished?
A: First, they have made it harder for Nicaragua to export
subversion. Second, they have served as a defensive barrier
for the countries under subversive attack by keeping the
119,000-strong, trained Nicaraguan force in Nicaragua.
Third, the freedom fighters provide encouragement to the
unarmed democratic opposition groups in Nicaragua and, let
us remember, the freedom fighters have said they will put
down their weapons whenever there is a genuinely democratic
election, as the Sandinistas promised the OAS.
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Q: Are you saying the Sandinistas have the agility to expand
revolution to the point where it spills over into enough
Central American countries that it reaches the United States
border? Is that what you're saying?
A: On national television, May 9, 1984, the President said;
"As the national Bipartisan Commission on Central America
...agreed if we do nothing or if we continued to provide too
little belp,r our choice will be a communist Central America
with additional communist military bases pn the mainland of
this hemisphere and communist subversion spreading southward
and northward. This communist subversion p9ses a threat
that 100 million people from Panama to the 9pen border on
our south could come under the control of pro-Soviet
regimes!'.
0: Members of Congress have been briefed on this threat,
presumably in a great deal more detail than you're able to
go into here. And yet, they don't see this as an imminent
danger. How does the Administration explain that?
A: Let's remember that the Congress has voted large proportions
of the economic and security assistance for Central America
requested by the President. We think many members of
Congress do understand the danger to US nattonal interests
in the ;same way as the Bipartisan Commission did last year.
However, some Congressmen have a difficult time
understanding this subversive aggression because it is
indirect, uses deceptive propaganda and occurs over a longer
period of time using clandestine means. We hope to persuade
a majority of Congress to provide support for all facets of
the Pre,sident's Central America program.
Q: What did the President mean by his reference to "a new
danger we see in Central America is the support being given
the Sandinistas by Col. Quadaffi's Libya, the PLO, and most
recently the Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran"?.
A: The "new danger" is a reference to the fact that in addition
to the Soviet bloc and Cuba, which have been supporting
subversion from 1959 to 1979, the Sandinista victory has led
to the involvement of these new anti-Western entities. in
his May 9, 1984 speech. to the nation, the President said
this about the PLO: "a number of Sandinistas were trained
in camps supported by Cuba, the Soviet bloc, and the PLO".
The President also said about Libya that Nicaragua was
receiving support "also...from other parts of the terror
network: the PLO have sent men and so has Libya's dictator
Quadaffi". Recall that in April 1983 Libya tried to ship
weapons to the Sandinistas via Brazil but these were
intercepted, And on September 1, 1984 marking 15 years of
the current Libyan regime, Quadaffi boasted about his aid to
the Sandinistas in their war against the United States and
its friends,
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The travels of a high official from Iran to,NicAragua and
then Cuba, in our view, suggests that thh,Khomegi regime
intends to aid the Sandinistas, and this is disturbing.
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