CONTRA AID VITAL, REAGAN DECLARES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000403940019-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: March 4, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000403940019-3
ARTICLEArP'4i~k4D NEW YORK TIMES
ON PAGE - $ L 4 March 1986
CONTRA AID VITAL,
REAGAN DECLARES
By GERALD M. BOYD
Spedal to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, March 3 - Presi-
dent Reagan warned Congress today of
a "strategic disaster" if it failed to ap
prove military assistance to the Nica-
raguan insurgents. who he said would
be crushed like "the Hu arises free.
dom tighten" without the aid.
The warning came as Mr.. Reagan.
intensifying his push for $70 million in
military aid to the rebels and =30 mil-
lion in nonlethal assistance, met with
rebel leaders and was told that many of
the insurgents had gone into hiding
without ammunition or other supplies.
One of the rebel leaders, Alfonso
Robelo Callejas, a former member of
the Nicaraguan junta and one of three
directors of the United Nicaraguan Op-
position, said his group had told Mr.
Reagan that about 6,000 insurgents
were active inside Nicaragua and that
another 22,000 sympathizers had gone
into hiding.
'We Need the Aid Badly'
Mr. Robelo said Mr. Reagan ap-
peared aware of the situation as he ex-
pressed a commitment to providing
military assistance.
"It is clear that we need the military
aid badly in order to have effective
pressure to bring the Sandinistas to the
table," Mr. Robelo said in recalling his
group's remarks to Mr. Reagan. "We
told the President that we have been
talking to the commanders and that
they need military aid real fast, be-
The remarks echoed a speech by Sec-
retary of State George P. Shultz to the
Veterans of Foreign Wars today and;
statements by other high-ranking offl
clais that amounted to a blanket de-
nouncement of the Nicaraguan Govern-
ment. At the same time, the rebels, offici
spoke glowingly
warning that their military situation
was tenuous.
Mr. Reagan said a Congressional de-
feat of his aid proposal "could well de-
liver Nicaragua permanently to the
Communist bloc."
"I think the world is watching to see i
it Congress is as committed to demon
racy in Nicaragua, in our own hemi-
sphere, as it was in the Philippines,"
Mr. Reagan said.
At another point, the President drew
a comparison to the Hungarian upris-,
ing of 1956, saying that "if we don't pro-
vide our friends with the means to stop
the Soviet gunships, Nicaragua's free-
dom fighters will suffer the same fate
as the Hungarian freedom fighters,
who had nothing to defend themselves
against Soviet tanks."
'Privileged Sanctuary'
Mr. Reagan said a defeat of the
rebels would make Nicaragua a second
Cuba and "would mean consolidation
of a privileged sanctuary for terrorists
and subversives just two days' driving
time from Harlingen, Tex.'
The President warned further that a
failure to approve the military aid
would "place in jeopardy" the survival
of what he termed fragile democracies
in Central America, open the possibil-
ity of Soviet military bases near the
United States, threaten the security of
the Panama Canal and cause a vast
migration of hundreds of thousands of
refugees to the United States.
"And those who would invite this
strategic disaster by abandoning yet
another fighting ally of this country in
the field will be held fully account-
able," he said.
Mr. Reagan's remarks and the
speech by Mr. Shultz were a part of a
drive by the Administration to secure
funding. The Secretary, in his appear-
ance, made many of the same argu-
ments offered by the President.
Nicaragua Accused of Subversion
cause of the fact that less than one-
third of the forces are active."
Mr. Robelo said his group, in Wash-
ington to lobby Congress for the assist-
ance proposed by Mr. Reagan, believed
that $70 million in military aid was ade?
quate and that by making the aid offi-
cially covert the Administration could
better distribute it.
He said the aid should be part of a
two-track program in which efforts to
obtain a political solution would be
combined with military support for the
insurgents in order to press the Nicara-
guan Government to negotiate.
White House officials had scheduled
a press btiefing with the Nicaraguan
opposition leaders after their meeting
with the President, but rescheduled it
for Thursday. One ranking official said
the action had been taken to avoid
?overkill" and to keep the focus on Mr.
Reagan's comments- -
Reagan Comments After Meeting
Mr. Reagan's remarks came as he
addressed a group of conservative
leaders and business executives after
meeting with the rebel leaders.
. But in a detailed portrait of the Nica-
raguan Government, Mr. Shultz as-
serted before the veteran's group that
it was engaged in wide-scale subver-
sion including aid to radicals and ter-
STAT
win Inevitably t
ing escalation, which will culminate
with the intervention of U.S. combat
troops in Nicaragua," the embassy
statement said.
Administration officials have argued
that the Nicaragua conflict is entering
a critical period. Making that point to-
day, Elliott L. Abrams, Assistant Sec-
retary of State for Inter-American Af-
fairs, told reporters that the insurgents
had made steady gains last fall, but
that a "technology gap" developed as
the Nicaraguan Government deployed
sophisticated Soviet weapons, includ-
ing helicopters.
Mr. Abrams said that it was now dif-
ficult for the insurgents to get volun-
teers and that their ranks had been de-
pleted from about 8,000 to 6,00dbecause
of supply problems. With American
military assistance, Mr. Abrams as-
serted, the force would swell to about
25,000.
The Nicaraguan Army has about
60,000 troops, about the same number
as the Government militia.
'A Military Track'
Mr. Abrams said that with the pro-
posed American military aid the rebels
could greatly expand their campaign-
Without it, he said, the Sandinistas
would consolidate control and turn
their attention "fully to subversion of
their neighbors."
Restating what he said one rebel
leader, Arturo Jose Cruz, had told Mr.
Reagan, Mr. Abrams said, "There has
to be a military track or else the diplo-
matic track will have no teeth."
The Administration has expressed a
willingness to hold talks with the Nica-
raguan Government if it agreed to
church-sponsored discussions with the
insurgents. The Nicaraguan Govern-
ment has refused to negotiate with the
rebels, and the Reagan Administration j
has broken off direct talks with Mana-
gua-
Mr. Robelo, in discussing the pro-
posal for a "dual track" approach, said
the rebels favored both sets of talks as
well as negotiations under the so-called
Contadora Process.
Senator Jim Sasser, Democrat of
Tennessee, said today that he would
propose that the United States place
the aid in escrow for six months while it
pursues bilateral negpdations.
Another key member of Con
Representative Dave McCurdy. De
crat of ma. said today that he
rorists from the Middle East, Latin oppoeea military runama ana oeuevea
America and Europe. In addition, he, that the Administration would eventu-
asserted, "agents" from the Palestine a com promise and settle for non-
Liberation Organization operating in lethal assistance. Mr. McC wasa
Central America and Panama are co~~o t year o e e s a ioa
using Nicaragua "as their base of that gave are .~ on non-
...:riser., aia as cal
e Nicaraguan Embassy here, in a care and uniforms.
statement today, said the remarks by
Mr. Reagan and Mr. Shultz were exam-
ples of the "utter disdain" the Adminis-
tration had for negotiations, including
bilateral talks with the Nicaraguan
Government and the regional peace
initiative offered by the nations known
as the Contadora group.
"The actions of the Administration
are additional proof of its commitment
to a military solution in Central Amen
ica,, because more aid to the contras
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000403940019-3