COVERT-ACTION BAR IN NICARAGUA URGED
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP90-00552R000100390027-1
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
K
Document Page Count:
1
Document Creation Date:
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date:
June 22, 2010
Sequence Number:
27
Case Number:
Publication Date:
March 16, 1982
Content Type:
OPEN SOURCE
File:
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
CIA-RDP90-00552R000100390027-1.pdf | 55.56 KB |
Body:
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100390027-1
~,.?E D THE WASHINGTOiI POST
ON PAG
16 March 1982
Covert-Action Bar I
In Nicaragua Urged
United P.-_%InWMkonrt
Rep. Michael D. Barnes (D-NId.),, saying the
administration's Central America policy is based
on a "dangerous delusion," introduced legislation.
yesterday to bar U.S: backed covert action against
Nicaragua's leftist regime.
The lee slation; reminiscent of the step Con=
gress took in 1975 to. prevent, secret involvement
in Angola's civil war, comes amid intense debate
over President Reagan's- moves to deter commu-
nist encroachment in the hemisphere..
Barnes, who chairs the House inter-American
affairs subcommittee, offered his legislation in re-
sponse to news reports that. Reagan, approved a
$19 million plan to form a CIA-backed paramil-
itary force to disrupt the Nicaraguan government
and stem a flow of arms to Salvadoran rebels.
"This is only the latest in a long series- of re-
ports, all undenied - by the administration, of
planned covert activity against Nicaragua, he told
a news conference. "It is hard to imagine that we
would doanything so stupid.."'..
Recalling the CIA's ill-fated Bay of Pigs inva-
sion of Cuba in 1961, Barnes said any secret op-_
erations to weaken the Sandinista regime in Ma-
nagua would be an ill-advised escalation of strife
in the region...
Barnes proposed amending the Foreign Assist-
ance Act to prohibit the use of U.S. funds for mil=
itary or paramilitary- actions against Nicaragua: If
enacted, his bill would, in effect, ban most types
of covert action. .
In another development, the administration was
urged in' a letter released yesterday-to delay certi
fication that would allow resumption.of military aid
and sales to Argentina and Chile until they have
improved their human-rights performance
In both countries "repression has been institu-
tionalized , said Rep. Don-- Bonker (D-Wash.),
chairman of the House human.rights subcommit-_
tee, in a March 4. letter to Secretary of Stare Al
exander M. Haig Jr. r.:...._...-
Bonker's letter was prompted by the adminis-
' tration's decision- to include :$50,000 for military
training for both Argentina and -Chile in the se-
carity and military aid program for fiscal 1983..
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100390027-1