CONTRAS' FUTURE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000403850020-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 16, 2010
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: February 13, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
STAT
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In Nicaragua, meanwhile, the uncertain future
of US aid has sent the various contra factions
scrambling to broaden their financial
bases through contributions from other
governments and private organizations -
and, in a recent move, with plans to float a
contras' future
White House search for ways
to bolster Nicaragua rebels runs
into new congressional criticism
By George D. Moffett III
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Washington
Declining support on Capitol Hill for additional
covert United States aid to rebel forces fighting
the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua has set off a
search for policy alternatives at both ends of
Pennsylvania Avenue. The search was compli-
cated Monday when a- bipartisan congressional
caucus charged that US aid policy in El Salvador
has worsened that country's economic and mili-
tary situation.
The Reagan administration has embarked on a
two-tiered strategy to secure new support for the
Nicaragua rebels. On one hand, the White House
is preparing to launch a renewed effort to persuade
Congress to approve $14 million in additional
funding for the rebels, or contras, for 1985. The
campaign is expected to begin in March and will.
be supported with new evidence which administra-
tion spokesmen say will verify allegations by the
Departments of Defense and State that the flow of
Soviet arms into Nicaragua is turning the country
into an armed camp. At the same time, adminis-
tration officials are reported to be consulting
widely on alternatives to the current program of
covert aid - just in case.
On Capitol Hill , congressional sources speak of
widespread concern with the course of the Nicara-
an revolution, coupled with growing dissatisfac-
tion over the use of covert aid as an instrument o
US policy in Cen America: ` ressures must
placed on the Sandinistas to sto iarassmg_theiX
Lei?h ors and being a base for Soviet weapons,
says Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair
'STATman Richard G. Lugar (R) of Indiana. But, he
AA ``
b v rt option will not work "
bond issue similar to Wobo Donds sold
the United States during
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ARTICLE APIPEARED
The p r o g r a m of covert US aid to Nica-
rav i eaan in 1981 to first year o the_
Reagan administration. Since then.
million has been channeled through the
Central-Inte'lio-nee Agency to the various
rebel factions operatin og ut of Honduras
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MON110R
13 February 1985
and Costa Rica. Last year, after the
House ve several proposals for new
contra aids a compromise measure was
passed which authorized an additional
$14 million for 1985, with the stipulation
that funds could not be spent until after
Feb. 28, and only then with the approval
of both the House and Senate.
Sources here familiar with the contra
aid issue sthe administration's willing-
ness to consider alternatives to covert aid
is merely a concession to domestic Politi-
cal reality and not a re ection of any
change in policy preferences AA ' istra-
tion officials insist that covert assistance
to the rebel forces has provided the only
effective leverage to force political reform
anto prevent the Sandinista revolution
from spreading to otaer countries in the
re on.
In what m be a final effort to salvage
the covert ai program, e
Reagan ad-
ministration will focus on an arms
buildup which has reportedly made Nica-
ragua an arsenal of Soviet-built he i op-
ters, armored personnel carriers, and anti-
aircraft guns.
- Congressional sources say that secur-
ing approval of new covert aid will be
close to impossible. There have been sev-
eral key defections, including Republican
leaders like David Durenberger (R) of
Minnesota, chairman of the Senate Intelli-
gence Committee. One source close to the "
Intelli nce Committee, to which any re-
Le st for covert- aid would be reee red, -,
- says - Senator _( Du_enbemr' will vote-
nst a* y proposal for covert aid.
"The White House has overplayed its
hand on the issue in the past," says a con-
gressional aide. "They really lost credibil-
ity here on the MIG issue," he notes, re-
ferring to recent White House allegations,
which subsequently proved erroneous,
that Soviet.. fighter aircraft were being
shipped to Nicaragua.
Reports of human-rights violations by
US-backed contra forces have also under-
cut the administration's case on Capitol
Hill.
' The case may also be complicated by
charges made Monday by the congres-
sional Arms Control and Foreign Policy
Caucus that the administration has pro-
vided misleading information to Congress
on the results of the US aid program in El
Salvador. The report says that excessive
amounts of military aid. have worsened
that nation's plight. It also charges that
the administration has violated limits im-
posed by Congress on the number of US
servicemen in Salvador
Cyll:.~.~?~1
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So far, no consensus has formed
around any alternative to covert aid. One
proposal is for trade sanctions. Nearly a
quarter of all Nicaraguan exports come to
the US.
The most widely discussed alternative
is for some form of overt assistance to an
umbrella organization representing the
spectrum of political and military opposi-
tion to the Managua regime. To this end,
the Reagan administration has encour-?
aged Nicaraguan opposition groups to rec-
oncile their highly publicized differences.
Even if they do - and that is a "deli-
cate proposition." one contra skesman
notes - the matter of overt co raise
complex legal questions. Some legal
scholars say such assistance to groups
seeking to overthrow the Sandinista gov-
ernment would be tantamount to a decla-
ration of war against Nicaragua, a nation
with which the US currently has diplo-
matic relations. Others note there is
precedent for aid to dissident factions.
During World War U, the US recognized
the Vichy government in France while
overtly backing the free bench under
Charles DeGaulle. Currently, the US is
selling arms to Taiwan while maintaining
diplomatic relations with China.
However the question of means is re-
solved, the debate over contra aid will al-
most certainly raise larger questions
about the appropriate ends of US policy
in Central America. In particular, con-
gressional sources say, the administration
? will have to clarify whether the ultimate
aim of US policy ? encompasses the .
overthrow of the Sandinista regime.
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