U.S. PRESSURE ON COSTA RICA REPORTED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201180007-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: April 13, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

`ST Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201180007-6
I
WASHINGTON POST
13 April 1986
U.S. Pressure on Costa Rica Reported
By Edward Cody
VV i,lm,gtnn Rnt Frreign Service
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, April 12
-The Reagan administration has
sharply intensified pressure on Cos-
ta Rica and its president-elect to
cooperate with U.S. sponsorship of
anti-Sandinista guerrilla forces, ac-
cording to Costa Rican and diplo-
matic sources.
The U.S. effort appears designed
primarily to make sure President-
elect Oscar Arias' publicly ex-
pressed opposition cannot be used
as an argument in the debate over
President Reagan's plan for $100
million in mostly military aid to reb-
el organizations fighting to over-
throw the leftist government of
Nicaragua.
The effort also seems aimed at
winning Arias' cooperation in the
future if the guerrilla forces want to
use a part of funds that might be
voted by Congress to revive a
southern front using bases in Costa
Rica.
Soon after his election Feb. 3,
Arias took issue with U.S. policy on
the guerrillas, commonly called con-
tras after the Spanish word for
counterrevolutionaries. In a U.S.
television interview Feb. 17, he
expressed a desire to prevent reb-
els from using Costa Rica as a base
and said Reagan should use the
$100 million for economic aid to
U.S.-allied governments in the re-
gion, including his own.
"I don't think that with that aid
he is going to obtain what he
wants," Arias said. "On the con-
trary, the result with the aid to the
contras has been a more dictatorial,
more totalitarian government in the
north," a reference to Nicaragua.
This marked a clear departure, in
words at least, from the outgoing
government of President Luis Al-
berto Monge. Although publicly de-
claring Costa Rica neutral, Monge
has privately lobbied Congress on
behalf of the administration for aid
to the rebels, whose main bases are
in Honduras.
More concretely, he tolerated
discreet guerrilla logistics opera-
tions here in 1983 and 1984.
According to knowledgeable dip-
lomatic sources, U.S. Ambassador
Lewis Tambs expressed U.S. dis-
may in a private conversation with to Rican officials said an impression
Arias as the president-elect's com- has grown within Monge's govern-
ments were being cited by oppo- ment that Washington is holding
nents in Washington of aid to the back the money as a demonstration
contras. Arias, who takes office to Arias of what lack of cooperation
May 8, responded that his private could lead to after he takes over.
position was the same as his public [In Washington, a U.S. official fa-
one, the sources said. miliar with the aid program for Costa
The day after the contra aid Rica said no aid had been delayed for
measure was defeated in the House political reasons. He said a road pro-
of Representatives, Elliott Abrams gram was held up because of a "tech-
assistant secretary o state or in- nical problem" involving supervision
ter-American affairs, flew to San of the road building, and discussions
Jose for an unannounced meeting of balance of payments assistance
with Monge as part o fa Quick Cen-
tral American tour_ AcrnrdinQ, n were proceeding normally.
Costa Rican officials, he was accom- ["The discussions are about eco-
panie by an unidentified offi- nomic policies," he said. "Arias' oo-
mander of the U.S. Southern Com-
mand.
U.S. officials later described Ab-
rams' Central American visits as a
gesture to reassure allies that Rea-
gan's policy would go on. But a Cos-
sition on contras is not on the table
with me. And no one has come to
me and said, 'Make that a factor.' "]
"All negotiations have political as
well as economic aspects," said
Lisano. "This is inevitable and nor-
mal."
Rodri o Madri al N' t h
e
o, w n
to Rican government source said g g i
the three U.S. officials also told Arias has named to become foreign
ig minister, received the message link-
's of the Reagan administra- ing U.S. aid levels to Arias' contra
tion's concern over Arias. The CIA stand during recent talks with Ab-
__ J official was ~ri_ Lparticularly_ __- firm, ...L.. he rams and aid officials in Washington,
did the singing."
[Abrams, in a telephone inter-
view in Washington, said it was "to-
tally false" that the United States
was pressuring Arias. He declined
to say who else had attended the
meeting with President Monge, but
added: "If there's anybody in the
Costa Rican government who is
claiming that we are using econom-
ic pressure it's false .... There
have been a lot of extraordinary
accusations to defeat the contra aid
bill, and this is one of the fairly de-
testable ones."]
Since Abrams' meeting with
Monge, Costa Rican officials said,
signs have been accumulating that
the administration is withholding
badly needed U.S. aid funds to drive
home its message. No payments
have been made since an install-
ment from fiscal year 1985 funds
last October, according to Eduardo
Lisano, executive president of the
Central Bank.
The U.S. Embassy here said the
delay in fiscal 1986 payments is
caused by budget problems in
Washington and has no political sig-
nificance. But Lisano and other Cos-
diplomatic sources said.
Comments by Tambs during a ra-
dio interview last month contributed
to the impression as well, Costa Ri-
can officials said. The U.S. ambas-
sador, asked about Arias' stand and
aid, said Costa Ricans should remem-
ber coffee prices are going up and oil
prices down, giving them balance-of-
payments advantages. "Of course,
many are going to say that since you
already have these advantages, you
are not going to need so much aid,"
he added.
The subject is overwhelmingly
important here because of Costa
Rican reliance on aid, particularly
U.S. aid, to meet payments on its
$4.5 billion foreign debt.
"The lateness is putting us in se-
rious difficulty," he said.
Officials of Arias' incoming gov-
ernment have complained privately
of the U.S. pressure, according to
diplomats. The president-elect has
avoided restating his views, to the
satisfaction of U.S. diplomats.
In a written statement Wednesday
to Costa Rican newspapers, howev-
er, Arias strongly criticized Nicara-
gua for "aggressive positions" in the
Contadora peace negotiations. He
did not mention the rebels.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201180007-6
FAMED