Badham Begins 4-Day Trip to Central America

Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach) left Tuesday on a four-day visit to Central America during which he plans to meet with Nicaraguan officials as well as rebel leaders known as the contras.

Badham, who supports U.S. aid to the contra s, was to meet with leaders in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Honduras to discuss U.S. policy in the region as part of a House Armed Services Committee trip to that region, aide William Schreiber said Tuesday.

Although Badham was named by the consumer group Congress Watch as the second-ranked “frequent flier” in Congress for his travels abroad at public expense, Schreiber said he had never been to Latin America.

Badham, seeking reelection to a sixth term this November, is the only congressman on this committee-sponsored trip and is traveling with two or three committee staff members, Schreiber said. But the trip “had nothing to do with the campaign season,” said Schreiber, who added that the congressman had been waiting six months to go with a group to this region.

“This is an area where we’ve gotten an enormous amount of constituent inquiry on. . . . It was a crucial opportunity to . . . gauge, in his first-hand opinion, the effectiveness of the contra movement as an effective fighting force,” Schreiber said.

Badham’s Democratic opponent this fall, former judge Bruce W. Sumner, said the timing of Badham’s trip suggested a political motive, especially “the fact that he’s ignored it (Latin America) up till now. . . . I happen to feel that this is one trip he probably should have made long ago--more than to Tahiti or New Zealand or Australia,” Sumner said, mentioning other stops on Badham’s itinerary this year.

Sumner said he supports U.S. aid to the Contadora negotiation process rather than efforts to destabilize the Nicaraguan government by backing the contras.

Badham’s trip includes a tentatively scheduled meeting with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. Badham also is to tour rebel camps in Honduras, near the Nicaraguan border, Schreiber said. In El Salvador, Badham is scheduled to meet with President Jose Napoleon Duarte and Defense Minister Vides Casanova.

He also is scheduled to meet with the presidents of Honduras and Costa Rica and with deposed contra leader Eden Pastora and current contra leader Alfredo Cesar. Badham is to return home to Newport Beach Friday night.

Schreiber said there was nothing romantic about this trip. Badham’s wife, Anne, will not be accompanying him. Also, since the trip was scheduled during the rainy season, Badham has packed “jungle clothing,” including sturdy trousers and galoshes to wear in the mud and rain, Schreiber said.