SHULTZ SAYS US HAS 'LEGAL RIGHT' TO BACK CONTRAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100420016-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 6, 2012
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: February 23, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100420016-1
BOSTON GLOBE t~t1la H
Shultz says US L
has `legal right'
to.. back contras
Aid f or- Nicaragua rebels. pushed
By William Beecher South Africa, Chile. the Republic
Globe Staff of Korea and the Philippines - all
WASHINGTON - In an escalat- these brave men and women have
ing effort to persuade Congress to- something in common: They seek
provide funds to the guerrillas independence, freedom and hu-
fighting the Sandinista regime in man rights - ideals which are at
Nicaragua, Secretary of State' the core of democracy and which
George P. Shultz yesterday out- - the United States has always
lined a more activist US strategy. championed." he said. The speech
for assisting democratic trends in was made available to reporters in
Central America, Africa. Asia and Washington. '
- Administration officials said
..th
So..,et bl
e
oc
"A revolution is sweeping the
world today, a democratic revolu- cy statement, made at this time
tion," Shultz declared in a speech even though it is recognized It will
before the Commonwealth Club in not sit well with Moscow on the
San Francisco. The United States, eve of the resumption of arms con
he said, has both 'a legal ,right trot talks' in.Geneva. -
I
a moral obligation" to encour- They conceded timing impor-
and
is the
-age such movements by a variet Cant element in the e ting is the
of means shaped to fit differin g Administration's effort to .con-
of means shaped . Vince Congress to release $14 mil-
.
circumstances
While insisting the United lion in funds for the so-called con-
States prefers peaceful means, tra guerrillas in Nicaragua.
Shultz said there are situations In a news conference Thursday
where forceful measures may be :night, President Ronald Reagan
said the contra campaign is neces-
"necessary' sary to force Nicaragua to yell
The Solidarity movement in uncle" and permit the sort of po-
Poland: resistance forces in Af litical pluralism it promised when
ghanistan, in Cambodia, in Nica- it overthrew the Somoza dictator-
ragua, in Ethiopia and Angola: ship in 1979.
dissidents in the Soviet Union and Shultz, too, focused consider-
Eastern Europe: advocates of {
;,peaceful democratic. change in
Continued
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100420016-1
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100420016-1
a.
able attention on Nicaragua. but
offered a much more detail .d ra-
tionale for a combination of covert
action and negotiations.
Charging that the Sandinistas
are pressing to consolidate them-
selves as a "second Cuba" in the
Western Hemisphere, Shultz ar-
gued that if successful this would
not only squelch democracy In
Nicaragua but lead to intensified
efforts to "undermine neighboring
governments in the name of their
revolutionary principles:
.-The Sandinistas. he said, will
not "modify or bargain away their,
position unless there is compelling. contras,' he said, it would consign
incentive . to do so" and con- --Nicaragua "to the endless dark-
tended the only effective incentive mess of communist tyranny." He
tc continuation of the covert war "-said failure to.force political
against them. If the pressure is re-
moved, "the Sandinistas will have
no reason to compromise; all US
diplomatic efforts - and those of
the Contadora group - will be un-
dermined," Shultz declared.
While Reagan would not direct-
ly answer. the question whether
the tUnited States now seeks the
overthrow of 'the Nicaraguan re-
gime. Shultz put it in these terms:
"Whether It is achieved
through multilateral Contadora
negotiations, through unilateral
actions taken by the Sandinistas
alone or in concert with their do-
mestic opponents, or through the
collapse of the Sandinista regime,
is immaterial to us."
If Congress fails to fund the
changes now might result in a sit-
uation later on "when we can no
longer avoid acting [and when]
the stakes will be higher and the
costs greater." The hint was of di-
rect US military involvement.
In Afghanistan the insurgency
against the Soviet-supported nov-
ernment is growing, he said, with-
out mentioning covert US aid to
that a ort. By similarl praising
the noncommunist guerrillas in
Cambodia, he raised a question
whether t e Unit States was
considering a policy change to per-
mit covert ai .
As for the Soviet bloc, he said
the United States "will never ac-
cept the artificial division of Eu-
rope into free and not free." But
the only appropriate activity he
cited was continued radio broad-
casts to those "closed societies."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100420016-1