JACKSON OPPOSES ZABLOCKI-BOLAND BILL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000201250019-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: July 30, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/23: CIA-RDP90-00845R000201250019-8
i1L'IN1A.N EVENTS
30 July 1983
`Post' Ignores Story
Jackson Opposes
Zablocki-Boland Bill
Sen. Henry Jackson made a significant break
with his Democratic colleagues over on the House
side last week, as he informed a day-long con-
ference on Nicaragua that he opposes the Za-
biocki-Boland amendment to cut off all U.S. aid,
both coven and overt, .to the Nicaraguan guer-
rillas. The House is expected to take up Za-
biocki-Boland this week.
Asked by a HuMA.N EvErrrs reporter if he fa-
vored the amendment, Jackson stressed that -the
President "must have some flexibility in dealing
with the problems" as they relate to Nicaragua.
"To turn around and tie the hands of the Presi-
dent, especially at this point, is a mistake," he add:
ed. He also predicted that if it passed the House, it
would not pass the Senate..
Jackson's significant comment, as well as
the conference itself, was wholly ignored by
the major daily in the nation's capital, -the
Washington Post, which has opposed covert
aid to the Nicaraguan guerrillas.
In his keynote speech to the conference, which
was sponsored by the Ad Hoc Committee for
Democracy in Nicaragua, Jackson assailed the
Sandinista regime for havying broken its promises
to respect human rights and bold national elec-
tions. Referring to the "theft of a revolution by a
Leninist power grab," Jackson said the Sandinistas
have created a regime that is under the influence
of Cuba and the Soviet Union and which is threat-
ening the rest of Central America.
"The destabilization of Central America threat-
ens U.S. strategic interests in a much broader sense
than many of us may recognize," Jackson said.
'The oft-repeated figures on trade in the Carib-
bean and the importance of the sea lanes to resup-
plying Europe in a general mobilization have
become familiar statistics. But think of what the
destabilization of the whole Central American'
isthmus, including Mexico, could mean to our
ability to meet our commitments around the world.
"Confronting hostile neighbors and the pros-
pect of a flood of refugees," Jackson said, "any
U.S. government would be faced with demands to
bring our troops home from Europe and reduce
our commitments in the Pacific. The credibility of
our support for our friends in the Middle East
could be eroded seriously."
The conference, which focused on the difference
between what the Sandinistas had promised the
Nicaraguan people and what has actually taken
place, featured an extraordinary line-up of
speakers, participants and sponsors. Representa-
.tives of virtually every sector of Nicaraguan soci-
ety and liberals and conservatives in this country
came together to try to focus public attention on
the absence of democracy in Nicaragua and the
reistancethat is building against the Sandinista
-regime. _
':..A morning session, addressed by Rep. 'Henry
Hyde (R.-Ill.), featured speeches by several Nica-
raguan exiles, including Humberto Belli, the for>.
-editorial director of the once-free newspaper
-Nicaragua, La Prensa. They described in detail the
Sandinista repression of the media, the political
parties, the private sector and the church. And
Teresa Bendana, a Nicaraguan educator, gave a
fascinating account of how they are indoctrinating
children through a Cuban-controlled educational
system. The session was moderated mostly by Penn
Kemble of the liberal Institute on Religion and
Democracy.
An afternoon session, moderated by L. Francis
Bouchev of the conservative Council for Inter-
American Security, featured speeches by leaders of
anti-Sandinista guerrilla groups such as Adolfo
Calero of the Nicaraguan Democratic Front and
Stedman Fagoth, leader of the Miskito Indian
organization.
Recent Sandinista defector Miguel Bolanos, and
Commandante Alejandro Montenegro, a former
Salvadoran guerrilla leader, making a rare public
appearance, discussed the Sandinista military
threat to all of Central America.
In a luncheon address, U.N. Ambassador Jeane
Kirkpatrick said the Sandinista revolution has been
characterized by "violence and deception," but
that it is not, as the Brezhnev doctrine would have
us believe, irreversible.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/23: CIA-RDP90-00845R000201250019-8