a i 3 WORLD 8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JANUARY 25, 1984 sion issued its 132-page report on Central America after five months of travelling about the region and amid considerable press ballyhoo. Reagan greeted it, calling the findings impressive. A State Department official said, ‘‘by and large (it is) an endorsement of what administration policy is.”’ Why the Kissinger report so delighted Reagan and the Pentagon is immediately clear: it endorses the Reagan policy in Central America and calls for a greater commitment of U.S. military and eco- nomic aid to stamp out the national and social liberation movements in the re- gion. The report urges a five-year, $8-billion program to bolster the military regimes in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. It attacks the Sandinista government of Nicaragua and urges Reagan to go even further with the CIA-backed contras ef- forts to destroy that revolution. Last weekend Reagan announced he would bring forward a comprehensive plan based on the Kissinger recom- mendations which he would call the ‘Central American Democracy, Sa and Recovery Initiative.”’ Far less impressed was Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, coordinator of the government junta: ‘“‘Every time an American president wants to justify an aggression, he resorts to a commission,” Ortega charged. *‘They are not commis- sions to resolve problems but to justify aggressive policies.”’ The Tribune spoke with Nicaraguan consul Pastor Valle-Garay to get a further elaboration of his government’s reaction to the Kissinger report: : * * * “The Kissinger commission did exactly what Reagan wanted it to do when he created it — rubber stamp his military approach to the Central Ameri- can crisis,” Valle-Garay said. ‘They have totally ignored social con- ditions in Central America. They ignore human rights in El Salvador and propose a $400-million aid package to that regime. They propose an $8-billion plan for eco- nomic aid which hasn’t a hope of getting by Congress.” Valle-Garay pointed out that the former $380-million Reagan Caribbean Basin Initiative Plan only resulted in aid to the El Salvador military with some Report rubb Henry Kissinger’s 12-person commis-' ) ze ia 2) = = re) F | ie) e je) = he a w z Sp o xk E Kissinger report urges more support ior contras in their U.S.-backed effort to de- stroy the Nicaraguan revolution. Photo: May Day 1981 in Managua. money going to Seaga’s Jamaica. “‘The rest of it never came through,”’ he said, “unless it came through in the form of the overthrow of the Grenadian Government.” “Reagan will only accept those pro- posals in the report that suit his plans such as the $400-million for El Salvador and the resumption of military aid to Guatemala.”’ Valle-Garay’s point re- ceived unintentional support from Se- nate Democratic leader Robert Byrd. Commenting on the proposal, Byrd said: “It is highly questionable for a nation that is racking up a $200-billion a year deficit to consider pouring $8-billion into Central America.”’ ‘*The report,’ Valle-Garay continued, “deliberately dismisses the Contadora Group and tries to sabotage its efforts to achieve peace in the region. ‘*This report and this policy is not new to Central America,’’ the consul stres- sed. “‘Reagan literally embodies the poli- cies of every U.S. president over 150 years of U.S.-Central American rela- tions. “There has never been the imagina- tion, guts or desire to seek political solu- tions to the problems of the region. Every U.S. president has looked for a military solution. “It’s galling for us to hear Reagan call the Salvadorean FMLN ‘terrorists’ and describe the contra cut-throats as ‘freedom fighters’. But we understand TORONTO — ‘‘We are tremend- ously pleased with the support we have received from the people of Canada and from the Canadian bri- gades,’’ Nicaraguan consul Pastor Valle-Garay told the Tribune. “‘Our government is taking every precaution to ensure their safety. They will not, under any circum- danger. They are a construction bri- gade coming to our country to assist our people.”’ Bob Curran, one of the organizers of the Canadian Action for Nicaragua brigade described the response to the project as ‘‘fantastic’’. He said that close to 80 people have responded Response ‘fantastic’ to volunteer brigade stances, be placed in conditions of from all across the country. ‘‘They range in age from 19 to 66 with about an equal representation of men and women.”’ The final brigade will num- ber about 50 persons, Curran said. **Professional people, tradespeople and students are among those who have responded,”’ he reports. In addi- tion, tools and medicines are being collected which the brigade will take to Nicaragua. Financial support and trade union endorsation is also being sought and.received. Separate brigades will be going to Nicaragua from British Columbia and Quebec as the campaign to support the people of that country grows. Kissinger calls for more arms for Central America er Stamps Reagan line this is a part of their policy which today, as in the past, always resorts to military. might when dealing with Central America. : “Every army in Central America today with the exception of the San-. dinista army in Nicaragua was created by a succession of U.S. governments with the specific purpose of protecting Ameri- can economic interests such as United Fruit and large mining concerns. “They and those before them are di- rectly responsible for creating terrorism in the region, terrorism carried out by the various National Guard armies which they themselves created and support. ‘*There are no death squads in-Nicara- gua,”’ Valle-Garay pointed out. ‘‘Where there are death squads are in -exactly those countries where the U.S. has come in to train the armies — El Salvador, Guatemala and now, according to a World Council of Churches report, in Honduras. “The Kissinger commission, there- fore, has carried out its mandate — to TRIBUNE PHOTO — MIKE PHILLIPS VALLE-GARAY ... the policies of every U.S. president over the 150 years of U.S.-Central American relations ...” support Reagan’s Central American ‘solution’ which, as before, is a military solution,” “Reagan embodies Valle-Garay concluded. (SWA PO ready to enter | cease fire negotiations — LUANDA, Angola — The Southwest Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) Department of Information and publicity here issued a statement Jan. 10 in which it described as lies South African reports that its forces have been fighting the “combined forces of Angola, SWAPO and Cuba”’ killing over 400 with the loss of only 27 of its own troops.” The statement continues: ‘“‘“SWAPO ‘would like to restate the fact, which it has already made public, that there were no SWAPO fighters involved in the one month fight which the South African army unleashed against Angolan military positions in the areas of Mulonto, Cuvelai, Kahama and Caiundo in south- ern Angola. ‘“‘Further, SWAPO would like to categorically deny that members of its armed forces were among the 400 or so people that the racist army reports to have killed in the above-mentioned areas during the recent South African military aggression against Angola. The claim by Pretoria that SWAPO, Cuban and Angolan forces are. fighting together against South African invasion forces is calculated to give credit to the widely-rejected ‘linkage’ position ad- vanced by South Africa and the USA. In other words, if the racist regime should succeed to convince the world that SWAPO, Cubans and the Angolan army are integrated, then the world would ac- cept the linkage theory of Pretoria and Washington. It ‘is against this background that SWAPO would like to re-emphasize the fact that SWAPO armed cadres. were _most certainly not involved in the fighting in southern Angola. The fight was strictly between the defending Ango- lan army and invading South African forces. The South African propaganda machine has also been telling the world that the regime is ready to have direct talks with SWAPO (over the future of Namibia — Ed.) something which Pre- toria has consistently refused to do hitherto. SWAPO hopes that Pretoria is. now serious and that its announcement _ will be injected into the proposed talks in © * oppression, SWAPO calls upon South ANGOLA (rat) A MEOLANDS Avwvnsiog Vs GUNN TEE OCEAN, eb ; that the so-called administrator-general, the colonial governor in Namibia, will — meet SWAPO for direct talks is genuine- We hope the direct talks will not be 2 replay of the January, 1981 Geneva talks, when South Africa turned the confer-— ence into a public relations charade by instigating its Namibia puppets to hurl insults and abuse at SWAPO, the United — Nations and independent Africa. While SWAPO has no intention to interfere in how the South African delegation will be composed, our stand- point is that the proposed talks are wel-— come and must strictly and solely deal - with the issue of cease fire. The identity and responsibility of political organiza-— tions are provided for in the provisions of - United Nations Security Council resolu- tion 435, to whose implementation the cease fire agreement must lead. The arena of exchange of views among Namibian political parties and organiza- tions will be the election campaign — period. Pe Therefore SWAPO hopes that no is- sues unrelated to the proposed cease fire - which SWAPO has agreed to participate. — Ever conscious of its responsibilities to the Namibian people and aware of the — untold agony now afflicting the Nami-- bian nation under the yoke of apartheid — Africa, through the United Nations secretary-general, to immediately set a_ definite date for the cease fire talks.