Shultz Labels Sandinista Rule as ‘Bad News’

Secretary of State George P. Shultz today described the Sandinista leadership in Nicaragua as a “bad news government” and said the Reagan Administration is determined to prevent the permanent installation of a Soviet-dominated regime anywhere in Central America.

“I see no reason why we should slam the door on people just because they have been taken behind the Iron Curtain,” Shultz said.

Defending the Administration’s policy of covert aid for rightist contra guerrillas, Shultz said he rejects the idea that once a Soviet-supported government is established in Latin America, it can never be changed.

Committee Testimony

Shultz testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in support of the Administration’s $14.8-billion military and economic foreign aid package for fiscal year 1986.

There is deep opposition to a resumption of aid to the contras among members of the Democratic-controlled committee, and Shultz fended off questions from a number of members critical of Administration policies in Central America.

Urging Shultz to sponsor multilateral negotiations among Latin American countries with Nicaragua, Rep. Gerry E. Studds (D-Mass.) said, “Surely the struggle for freedom should be something more than a struggle between our terrorists and their terrorists.”