A POLICY COMES UNDER FIRE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505400058-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 58
• Publication Date: May 2, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/09 :CIA-RDP90-005528000505400058-6
s
STAT
2 MAY 1983
ff~TcRNATlONAL
A Policy Comes Under rare
The president scrambles to counter congressional opposition on Central America.
State George Shultz. ~~?ho spent two days
talking with Mexican officials last week.
returned with only a ~~ague communique
agreeing that violence is bad.
From Reagan's point of vieW~, there was
some good news from the south. U.S. offi-
cials finally succeeded in nudging out E]
Salvador's defense minister, Gen. Jose Guil-
lermo Garcia-although his successor's
spotty human-rights record might only
make Congress more skittish. In Brazil, au-
thorities seized four Libyan planes bound
for Nicaragua with tons of arms and explo-
sives. Reagan planned to use that incident as
evidence of the Sandinistas' military build-
up-and of outside interference in the re-
gion. And when Salvadoran guerrilla leader
Sale ador Cayetano Carpio reportedly com-
mitted suicide after Nicaraguan officials
claimed that a trusted aide masterminded
the assassination of his second-in-com-
chairman of a powerful congressional sub-
committee vowed to block additional mili-
tary aid to Guatemala. In an 11th-hour
effort to save his crumbling policies, the
president tried to regain the offensive. This
wee}: Reagan will argue his case for Central
America before a joint session of Con-
gress-the first time a president has made
such an appeal solely on aforeign-policy
issue since Jimmy Carter came to Capitol
Hill to talk about SALT II in 19?9.
The V~'hite House announcement froze
congressional action and gave Reagan a few
days of ~?riggle room. But the president's
basic dilemma was unchanged. He has com-
mitted himself to the kind of military solu-
tion in Central America that gets minimal
suppon among Congress and the American
people. Reagan will argue that Central
America is too important to abandon, that
America's prestige is at stake and that the
t'nited States cannot afford to let the Soviet
Union get another foothold in the region.
But the ;was going to be a hard sell not only
in the United States but with America's
moderate allies in the region. Secretary of
g
]igence committees of both houses of Con- i tionsaw Garcia'sresignation as anespecial-
gress were poised to cut off funds for the ; ]v promising sign. As defense minister for
secret war against Nicaragua. And the ~ almost four years, Garcia was a pragmatist
Committee rejected the president's plea to
send more money to E] Sal~?ador. The intel-
T he momentum against Ronald Rea- mand, U.S. officials felt encouraged. "It's
gar's Central America policy mounted pretty clear that gang, warfare has broken
day by day. The House Foreign Aft:.irs j nut amnn~ the insur?ents." said State De-
partmentspokesman Alan Romberg.
an administra-
Rebel Advaaces The Rea
who allied himself with moderates such as
interim President Alvaro Magafia and for-
mer President Jose Napoleon Duarte. He
was also the most powerful man in the
country. But rebel gains this year troubled
his fellov~~ generals-and American offi-
cials. Garcia was hurt by an AtZtiv officers'
revolt three months ago and then threat-
ened by a new mutiny from the Air Force.
U.S. officials decided that Garcia was not. a
good enough military commander for the
job. "I give him an A-plus for pushing re-
formsand keeping this place together," said
one senior W esters official in San Salvador.
"But it was time for someone else to come in
and win the war."
The American Embassy supported Presi-
dent Magaiia's nomination of Gen. Carlos
Eugenio Vides Casanova to be the new de-
fense minister--despite some obvious
drawbacks. Some soldiers derisively call
him "Senorita Casanova" because he lacks
combat experience. As commander of the
National Guard since 1979. Casanova de-
veloped areputation for honesty, but his
troops have been accused of routinely mur-
dering civilians. Five guardsmen were
charged with killing four American church-
women: two others were arrested for mur-
dering two American agrarian-reform ex-
perts. Casanova will have to unify the
mutinous armed services if he is to turn the
war around. But with presidential elections
scheduled for December, some soldiers may
alt:eadv consider him a lame duck. He can-
not improve the Army without removing
some unsuitable officers. but they are un-
likely to go quietly. "He's not the enemy of
anybody now," said one Salvadoran busi-
nessman who has knoR'n Casanova since
childhood. "But when he starts making
hard decisions he will bc."
For Ronald Reagan last week, Congress
was the principal enemy. In their push to
cut off funds, powerful congressmen who
control the flow of money that supports
Rcagan's programs cited massive public
suspicion of a growing U.S. involvement in
Crntral America. "I got a thousand letters
in a one-month period," said Democrat
Clarence Long of Maryland. "Only seven
were supportive of the president's policies."
For the White House, that was just the
beginning. The rat of the news from Capi-
tol Hill last week was equally bad:.
^ The House Foreign Affairs Cotntztittee
voted 19 to ] 6 to reject 550 trillion in addi-
tional military aid for El Salvador this year,
^ Long's Appropriations Subcommittee
stonewalled an administration request to
diver an additional S60 million to El Salva-
dor. Long said he would hang tough until
the administration gave him promises-in
writing-that it would seek a peaceful solu-
tion in E) Salvador and appoint a special
envoy to try to bring dissident factions into
December's elections.
^ Scn. Christopher Dodd, a member of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee. de-
manded arare secret session of the entire
Senate to hear intelligence infotmation be-
fore he would agree to consider any further
aid to Central America.
^ Exeept for alast-minute lobbying bliu by
the administration, the House and Senate
intelligence committees would have voted
to restrict covertactivities in Central Amer-
ica. Senate Intelligence Committee ehair-
man Bam~ Goldwater insisted that "the
facts about Central America all show clear-
)v that there is no (American) intent to
overthrow the government of Nicaragua."
But most of his colleagues disagreed, and so
did the House Intelligence Committee
chairman, Edward Boland. The Senate de-
layed avote until after Reagan's speech in
deference to Goldwater and the president.
The House panel put off a decision after
hearing from Shultz and CIA Director Wil-
liam Casey, who offered a guided tour of the
front. Several members accepted the invita-
tion, which many colleagues believed was
part of a softening-up process before -Rea-
gan's speech.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/09 :CIA-RDP90-005528000505400058-6