U.S. Facing Dispute With Portugal Over Pact on Bases

The U.S. government, already embroiled in a conflict with Spain over bases there, is now facing another dispute over a treaty with Portugal on the other side of the Iberian peninsula.

Irritated by U.S. congressional cuts in military and economic assistance, Prime Minister Anibal Cavaco Silva of Portugal, in an interview earlier this week, said he is considering formally calling in February, 1988, for a renegotiation of the agreement covering the U.S. military base in the Portuguese Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. He said the agreement had promised a rising level of American assistance.

Cavaco Silva, speaking in English, said Portugal is “a faithful ally of the United States” but that “the spirit of the agreement has not been respected.”

“It’s difficult for the Portuguese people to understand,” he continued, “that this is because of a disagreement between the Administration and the Congress. For the Portuguese people, this is a matter for the United States, and Portugal should not be penalized because of these conflicts.”

U.S. Concedes Shortfall

U.S. officials acknowledge that there has been a shortfall in the aid promised under the agreement, which was last signed in 1983. But the officials blame Congress.

For the 1987 fiscal year, the State Department requested $144.5 million in military aid and $80 million in economic aid, for a total of $224.5 million in assistance. But Congress cut this to $82.6 million in military aid and $64.8 million in economic aid for a total of $147.4 million. The shortfall was thus $77.1 million.

“The amounts under discussion,” said Cavaco Silva, “are, for the United States, peanuts.”

The prime minister also showed some irritation over the failure of the United States to send a new ambassador to replace Frank J. Shakespeare, who left Lisbon in December last year to take up his new post as ambassador to the Vatican.

Helms Blocking Nominee

President Reagan has nominated Richard N. Viets, a career foreign service officer and former ambassador to Jordan, to replace Shakespeare. But the nomination is one of a number being blocked by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, apparently over charges that embassy petty cash was misused in Amman, Jordan.

“There hasn’t been an ambassador of the United States in Lisbon for a long time,” said Cavaco Silva. “That is not positive for the talks we should have to have on this subject.”

Cavaco Silva was circumspect about his threat and did not talk about any attempt to revoke the agreement. He said his government is examining the situation and considering whether to invoke its right to call for renegotiations or consultations after February. He added that his government would not have to do this.

“I do expect it’s possible to overcome these difficulties,” he said.

The American base at Lajes on Terceira Island in the Azores has long been regarded as vital because of its location midway in the Atlantic Ocean. The base serves as a refueling stop for some transatlantic military flights and, more important, as a base for U.S. Navy P-3 planes that fly across the Atlantic trying to detect Soviet submarines. From Lajes, the P-3s scour areas of the Atlantic that would be unreachable from any other anti-submarine base.

Negotiated After WWII

The agreement covering the base was first negotiated right after World War II and has been renewed periodically. The current agreement, signed in 1983, will last until 1991 unless renegotiated.

Although the original agreement was signed with the old Portuguese dictatorship that was thrown out in a 1974 revolution, the dispute over it does not evoke the same kind of angry emotion as the conflict in Spain over the bases there. Spanish officials insist that their agreement, originally signed by the United States and the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, was tainted at birth.

Portugal has been mentioned as one possible place to move three controversial squadrons of F-16 fighter-bombers now based at the Torrejon Air Base outside Madrid. The Spanish have demanded that the fighters be removed from Spain.