Contras Aid Gets Senate Approval : Vote on $100-Million Package Clears Way for CIA to Resume War’s Control

The Senate on Wednesday night approved $100 million in aid for Nicaragua’s rebels, opening the way for the CIA to resume control of the covert war against the Sandinista government for the first time in two years.

The Senate approved the aid package, which had already cleared the House, by a vote of 53 to 47 after a bipartisan majority rejected a long series of amendments offered by liberal Democrats to limit the extent of U.S. involvement with the contras, as the rebels are known.

Earlier in the day, the Senate cleared the way for the final vote on the measure by limiting expected filibusters designed to block both aid to the contras and economic sanctions against the South African government. The votes in favor of limiting debate were 62-37 on aid to the contras and 89-11 on South African sanctions.

Liberal Democrats led by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) had threatened to lead a filibuster against aid to the contras, and conservatives led by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) were prepared to filibuster against South African sanctions.

Issues Tied Together

The issues were tied together by the Senate Republican leadership in an effort to force liberal Democrats to accept aid to the contras as the price of imposing penalties on the white minority government in South Africa. A South African sanctions bill is expected to be approved by the Senate later this week, after consideration of more than 90 amendments.

The contras’ aid package, which provides $70 million in direct military assistance and $30 million for related supplies, was adopted as part of an $8.2-billion military construction bill. The money will begin flowing to the rebels once the House and Senate have reconciled minor differences that have nothing to do with the aid.

The 53-47 vote on the aid amendment was identical to the Senate’s previous vote on the issue in March. After adopting aid to the contras, the overall military construction bill passed by a vote of 59 to 41.

Warning by Leahy

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned that the contras’ aid would mark the beginning of a rapidly expanding, multibillion-dollar proxy war against the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. “What has gone on in Central America up to now is small potatoes compared to what is going to start with the $100-million program,” he said.

It will be the first U.S. military aid provided to the Nicaraguan rebels since 1984, when Congress balked upon learning that the CIA had been involved in mining Nicaraguan harbors. Since then, Congress has prohibited the CIA from playing a major role in the war.

The new legislation does not prohibit CIA involvement, nor does it bar the intelligence agency from dipping into its own contingency funds to supplement the $100 million in direct assistance, which is to be administered by the secretary of state. According to sources, the CIA is planning to take advantage of this loophole to assume operational control of the war.

The agency, which provided the Nicaraguan rebels with more than $85 million in secret aid between 1981 and 1984, has maintained a close relationship with leaders of the contras since Congress barred it from controlling the war. CIA operatives have visited contras’ camps, gathered intelligence in the region and provided the rebels with communications equipment.

Although the CIA is known to be involved in at least four other paramilitary operations around the globe, Leahy argued that agency professionals should not be asked to get involved with the contras, who have been accused of drug trafficking and human rights violations.

‘Sordid Little War’

“I think it’s an impossible situation,” said Leahy. “Don’t send them down into a sordid little war where they get tarnished along with everybody else.”

But the Senate rejected by a vote of 57 to 42 an amendment offered by Leahy on Wednesday that would have denied the CIA any part in the war.

The legislation also does not restrict the separate expenditure of Pentagon funds in Honduras and other Central American countries for operations in support of the contras. The Senate defeated by a vote of 67 to 32 an amendment by Harkin that would have barred U.S. military personnel from providing training to contras in Honduras or Costa Rica.

Senate Republican leaders wanted to defeat all Democratic amendments so that they could avoid a dispute when representatives of the House and Senate meet to resolve differences in the legislation.

Democratic Amendments Lose

Several Democratic amendments sought to encourage a negotiated settlement in Central America while the United States supplies aid to the contras. By a vote of 54 to 45, the Senate defeated an amendment by Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) that would have forced the U.S. government to enter into bilateral talks with the Sandinista government. Another amendment by Kerry, which was defeated 54 to 46, would have terminated aid in the event of a regional peace agreement.

An amendment authored by Senate Minority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) to provide $450,000 to La Prensa, the Nicaraguan newspaper recently closed by the Sandinistas, was defeated 57 to 43. Another offered by Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) requiring regular reports on how the aid to the contras is spent also lost, 57 to 42.

The move to limit debate on contras’ aid did not succeed initially. On the first vote, the tally was 59 to 40, one vote short of the 60 votes necessary to limit debate. Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.) was the only senator not voting. On the second vote, Pell voted to limit debate and two others--Sens. Robert T. Stafford (R-Vt.) and Edward Zorinsky (D-Neb.)--switched their votes from no to yes.