SALVADOR REBELS CONTROLLED EXTERNALLY HAIG CHARGES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450037-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 4, 2012
• Sequence Number: 37
• Publication Date: March 3, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450037-1
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE Am
JASflINGTON ID;)ST
3 March 1982
STA
Salvador Rebels Controlled Externally,
Haig Charges
By John M. Goshko
was/lino= PosiStaft Writer ,
Secretary of State Alexander M.
Haig Jr. charged yesterday that the
leftist guerrillas in El Salvador not
only get arms from Cuba smuggled
through Nicaragua but are under
"exiernal command and control,"
, Testifying before the House For-
eigo Affairs Committee, Haig re-
fuspd to give details on the grounds
that he might endanter intelligence
? sources. But he insisted that "the ev
le-a-7We is overwhelming and irrefut-
abl," and implied that he was refer-
ring to Cuba and the radical Sandi-
nila-dominated government in Nic-
araua.
, an interview with The Wash-
inglon Post last week, Haig was
mcke explicit. He described the key
melnbers of the Salvadoran guerrilla
movement as "the Marxist-Leninist
extension of the Sandinista-Cuban-
Soviet effort," and added: 'They're
being commanded, controlled and
run externally?completely."
At another point in the interview,
Haig asserted that Nicaragua's "San-
dinista regime is. run by a parallel
Cuban structure; run out t of the
Cuban ambassador's office."
Haig's comments yesterday came
as he gave the House panel an over-
view of President Reagan's policy to-
ward different areas. of :the world.
However, as has been the case in all
his recent congressional appearances,
the most. heated exchanges came
, with committee members who have
expressed doubts about the admin-
istration's support of the civilian,
military government in El Salvador..
Haig again found himself having
to assert repeatedly 'that 'Reagan is
not planning to send U.S. combat
troops to El Salvador. "There are no
such plans under consideration,"
Haig said. "There have been none."
But he rejected a suggestion by
Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa) that the
United States withdraw the approx-
imately 50 military advisers helping
to train Salvadorans. "Fifty Amer
' ican advisers in a country plagu
with external interference is not
unreasonable measure," he said.
? Haig also had a testy exchange
with Rep. Gerry E. Studds (D-
? Mass.), an outspoken critic of the
administration's Central America
? policy. When Studds referred to er-
rors Reagan made at his last news
conference about the origins of the
Vietnam war, Haig asked where
Studds was during that war.
Studds shot back that big political
career began because of his opposi-
tion to what he regarded as "the ter-
ribly mistaken" U.S. involvement in
Vietnam. To which, Haig replied:
"Oh yes, now I remember.",
On
? On another issue, the secretary
sought to dodge questions about
whether the administration plans to
sell mobile Hawk antiaircraft mis-
siles and advanced jet fighters to
Jordan. Although the idea has trig-
gered fierce opposition from Israel,
Defense Secretary Caspar W. Wein-
berger recently discussed the possi-
bility with Jordan's King Hussein,
and the king said in a television in-
terview Sunday that he intends to
ask the United States to sell him the
equipment. '1,- t??
Haig, who was obviously uncom-
fortable dealing with a question tha
could cause a confrontation with Is-
rael's congressional supporters, re-
plied with the administration's stock
answer that no request has been re-
ceived from Jordan and thus no de-
cisions have been made. He added:
"It is not prudent to get out front
with definitive statements that are
neither timely nor called for."
He also told the committee that
the United States is finishing the
preparation of its position on new
talks with the Soviet Union about
limiting strategic nuclear weapons
and will have it ready in "a matter of
weeks, not months." But, he added
in a reference to the East-West ten-
sions generated by the military
crackdown in Poland, the adminis-
tration does- not intend to begin ne-
gotiations with the Soviets "until the
conditions are right."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/04: CIA-RDP90-009651Ronnm9anryz7_1