New State Department Office Will Administer Contra Funds

President Reagan established a special office within the State Department on Friday to administer $27 million that Congress appropriated a month ago for humanitarian, nonmilitary aid to Nicaraguan rebels.

Not all details have been worked out on how, where and when the money will be distributed, and some members of Congress have expressed fear that the definition of humanitarian aid may be broad enough to include combat-equipped trucks or helicopters.

Reagan originally had asked for military aid money for the contras, as the rebels against Nicaragua’s Sandinista government are known, and he campaigned for many months before finally securing only humanitarian aid.

Even with this restriction, Reagan had to give in to the Democratic-controlled House’s demands that the money not be handled by the CIA, which was widely criticized for the manner in which it had previously administered contra aid, or the Defense Department.

Praises Contras

In the statement Friday that accompanied his executive order creating a new State Department branch known as the Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office, Reagan lauded the efforts of the contras.

“As Americans who believe in freedom, we cannot turn our backs on people who desire nothing more than the freedom we take for granted,” Reagan said. “By providing this humanitarian assistance, we are telling the people of Nicaragua that we will not abandon them in their struggle for freedom.”

The Sandinistas, Reagan said, tolerate no challenge to their “absolute rule” and are in “collaboration with Cuba and the Soviet Bloc in assisting revolutionary groups seeking to subvert and overthrow the democratic governments of neighboring countries.”

‘Last Resort’

The contras, he said, have been “compelled to pursue the last resort for civil resistance of bearing arms against the government because there was no other choice.”

Many of the contras supported the Sandinista’s 1979 overthrow of Gen. Anastasio Somoza, Reagan said.

“Many of these people are poor, simple peasants, the very people the Sandinistas claim to be helping,” Reagan added. “Yet under the Sandinistas they lost too much. They lost their individuality, they lost their freedom, they lost the opportunity to control their own destiny.”

The new office will cease operating next April, or one week after the $27 million is disbursed, unless there is separate Administration action to extend its operations.

White House officials said they expect within the next few days to choose a State Department official to head the office.