REAGAN REMOVES ENDERS AS HEAD OF LATIN BUREAU AT STATE DEPT.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450025-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2012
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: May 28, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450025-4
WASHINGTON POST
28 WAY 1983
STAT
Reagan Removes Enders as ea
Of Latin Bureau at State Dept.
By John M.?Gosliko and Leutennon
wainukrion POStetin WPIters
President Reagan yestertlaytemoved Thom-
as 0. Enders as assistant ?secretarpof state for
inter-American affairs, an actionlhatrefiected
unhappiness- with the executicabal.S. poi-
inf. in Central --America, Accoidipg1.-o an ad-
ministration official
Several administration i?Ofrviisis74said -the
change will lead to tougheialS:ipolicy ill
Central America, .controlled odirectly by the
White House lather than-through the State
Department
Enders will be -rePlaced -by Ismghorne A.
(Tony) Motley, a land developer and Repub-
lican Party stalwart from Alaska?who has been
ambassador to Brazil for the last two years.
The official who spoke of Reagan's "unhap-
piness" also -praised Enders' difgomatic
hies, which he said-would be putt? proper use -
in his new post as ambassadortO-Spain. But,
in a sharp implied criticism of therway Enders
had performed his present duties, he added,
'You don't handle Central American policies
with tea and crumpets on the 'diplomatic
Several administration officials -said US.
policy in Central America now .seems likely to
increasingly bear the stamp of -Reagan's -na-
tional security affairs adviser, William P.
Clark. He is sympathetic to the view, shared
by U.N. Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick,
that even tougher measures are required to
combat leftist guerrillas in El Salvador and to
counter the influence of Cuba and and the left-
ist Sandinista government of Nicaragua in that.
region.
They regarded Enders as favoring a diplomatic
solution to the civil war in El Salvador. Reagan
agrees with Clark and Kirkpatrick that the guer-
rillas must be defeated militarily, the officials said.
One official added that Reagan decided to "put
his own people' into key Central America policy-
making positions even before he made his speech
on Central America to a joint session of Congress
on'April 27.
However, other sources in the administration
cautioned that it 'would be incorrect to assume
;theiswill be swift and radical changes in Central
American policy,-which is under heavy fire from
? liberals in Congress. In particular, these sources
disputed the idea that Enders' departure means
that Clark .has >wrested ,control of the policy from
Secretary of State-George P. Shultz. -
? Shultz, who smiounced-the change yesterday to.
reporters aboard Air Torce One en route to the
: Williamsburg, Va., economic summit, praised
. Enders as "a-great man" and .said the xnove was
- made .because it was time for a ?rotation in the
- State-Department, and we do make chinges.&'
The extent of Shultz's involvement in the de-
cision was not clear, but one official :said that the
secretary "fully concurred" in the switch_ This sug-
? gested that Shultz did not initiate the -Move. But
he was -said to be pleased with the elevation of
Motley, who has been given almost universally
high marks as ambassador in Brazil
On the surface, Enders' replacement would
seem to be a relatively unremarkable move,- as his
job is nominally a second-echelon position in the
governmental hierarchy. However, it seems certain
to stir controversy because US. involvement in
Central America is a subject of emotional national
interest and Enders has been regarded as the
principal architect of US. policy in the region.
In the view of many officials, Enders' problem
was that he had come to exercise a power over
Central American policy decisions far greater than
is normally panted to assistant secretaries of
state. That was particularly the case after Shultz
took office last summer and found himself forced
to devote most of his time to the Middle East and
other problems.
In the process, Enders became, as one source
put it, "a man caught in the middle. Although he
got on well with Congress, he still was pushing a
policy fiercely opposed by liberals fearful of in-
creasing U.S. involvement At the same time, his
efforts 'to build -support with the liberals.tnade
ICQATINLZE D
F.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450025-4
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450025-4
him highlyluspect?to hard-core conservatives who
thought him insufficiently vigorous in his anti-
comniunism."..? . ? .
As the -civil war in El .Salvador dragged on
conclusively, Enders also found himself increas-
ingly on a different wavelength than Clark,"Kirk-
patrick and other in-house critics from the Pen-
tagon and the. CIA Who disputed the State De-
partment's approach
iAsone=iienior official Put it, "It was like what
happens .when "a baseball team is on a losing
streak. You get a lot of agitation to fire the man-
ager, and Enders was regarded throughout the
- -government-as the manager onTentral Americ.i."
? Clark:said Kirkpatrick's disenchantment came
-to a.headin February when ,it became known that
ErideiniadOepared a,position paperadvocating
a zw04itiCk.policy of pursuing ,the civil war in _El
Salvador while seeking torpromote negotiations
with ;iepresentatives ?-?of,the -guerrillas.- This as
. opposed by administration -hard-liners .as :poten-,
? tially :Opening -the way lor'the .guerrillas to nego-
tiate a share of power iuthe Salvadoran- govern-
ment. 7 1 ? . . . _
- The uproar caused hy that incident in conser-
vative-circles forced Shultz to -exercise greater -su-
pervision over -Eriders'41ctivities. But by then the
demand forEnders' ouster 'had become a crusade
for conservative Reagan supporters. ? - -
At the same time, the president began to turn
increasingly to Clark -mnd Kirkpatrick for .advice
on 'Central America. -The sugar import -quota for
Nicaragua was virtually:eliminated despite End-
ere objections.. He was unable to fill the key dep-
uty slots in his btireaUbecause of a power struggle
over- the ideological orientation .of those consid-
ered for .the jobs. And, in what was widely re-
garded asa slap at Enders; former Florida senator
Richard B. Stone VMS named a special emissary
oeCentral America;
Enders' replacement, Motley, is held in high
regard by Republican conservatives. And, al-
though he went to Brazil two years ago with the
reputation of "a real estate salesman from -Alaska,"
he has won considerablepraise from Brazilian of-
and other diplomats for skillful perform -
. Motley, who was born and raised in Rio de Ja-
neiro, speaks Portuguese. He arranged Reagan's
visit to Brazil last December and acted as his in-
terpreter in meetings with Brazilian President
Joao Figueiredo.
"flowever, Motley's Latin American experience
has-.been confined largely to Brazil. State Depart-
ment officials said he has no real experience with
'ateittrarAmerica..
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450025-4