Urging Congress To Up the Ante

Two Presidents make a pitch

It was a clear case of like-mindedness. Against a backdrop of growing concern in Congress over the Administration's Central American policy, El Salvador's provisional President, Alvaro Alfredo Magana, on his first official trip to Washington, and President Reagan emerged from two hours of White House meetings last week to issue none-too-subtle pitches aimed straight at Capitol Hill. Both Presidents stressed support for Salvadoran democracy, land reform and human rights--prime congressional priorities.

"I want to appeal to the honorable members of Congress to support the efforts of President Reagan to aid El Salvador," said Magana. ". . . A weak, vacillating commitment endangers peace and hemispheric security." Reagan applauded Magana's "admirable progress in the difficult task of moving El Salvador toward democracy . . . The people of that brave country deserve and have our support." Reagan also lauded Magana for his attempts to encourage all Salvadorans, including the extreme left, to participate in the electoral process. Said Reagan: "This is the true path of peace for that country."

In fact, while prospects for any kind of rapprochement between the Magana government and the guerrillas remain slim, U.S. Special Envoy Richard Stone nonetheless returned from a twelve-day, ten-country "listening tour" of Central America in an unexpectedly sanguine mood about starting some kind of dialogue between the rebels and the Salvadoran government. He is expected to express an emphasis on reconciliation in his report to the President this week. Predicted one National Security Council staffer: "I would not be at all surprised to see a dialogue worked out." The Magana government, backed by the Reagan Administration, has long insisted that the guerrillas must win their political power at the voting booth, not the bargaining table.

Stone ended his trip in Mexico City with a strong statement on Tuesday in support of the Contadora group--four Latin American countries, led by Mexico and Venezuela--that have been seeking a regional solution to the fighting. Speaking in passable Spanish, the former Florida Senator said the Reagan Administration would "defer" to the countries involved and not "impose our own agenda."

Such diplomatic talk notwithstanding, there were signs that the tempo of the Central American conflict might soon quicken. In the first phase of a Viet Nam-like operation known as the National Plan that has long been advocated by U.S. advisers, the Salvadoran army began chasing guerrillas out of the strategically important San Vicente province and prepared to stay a while to create a shield for a government-sponsored effort to rebuild schools, roads and medical centers. In Honduras, 100 U.S. advisers arrived last week to train Salvadoran troops, against a backdrop of new clashes on the Honduran-Nicaraguan border. "The Honduran question is getting some attention right now," said an Administration official, referring to the danger of war between Nicaragua and Honduras. "If you had 15,000 to 20,000 Cuban troops in Nicaragua, you might do something bold." That unsettling possibility certainly seemed remote enough, but late last week TIME learned of the recent arrival in Managua of Cuba's General Arnaldo Ochoa, Castro's leading specialist in expeditionary forces. "This," says an Administration aide, "is ominous. It worries the hell out of us."

Taking all this in, Congress nevertheless remained wary of any new pressures, whether from the White House, El Salvador or Honduras, to up the Central American ante. Congressional committees recently cut in half the Administration's request for $60 million in aid to El Salvador, and sentiment seemed to be building for a different, nonmilitary approach. Democratic Senator Henry ("Scoop") Jackson of Washington and Republican Charles Mathias of Maryland proposed a bipartisan commission on Central America, similar to the one that helped design the Marshall Plan after World War II. The panel, which would formulate a strategy of economic aid to the whole region, would consist of business, government, labor and religious leaders, and scholars and representatives of the area. Reagan is said to be interested. "We'll be supportive if Congress funds it," said an Administration official. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.