Reagan Assails Contra Aid Cutoff, Cites Managua Threat

President Reagan devoted most of his regular weekly radio address Saturday to the issue of Nicaragua, castigating Congress for halting aid to the Contras and declaring that the incursion by Sandinista troops into Honduras proved that the Managua regime is a regional threat.

“Just as the heroic efforts of the democratic resistance have forced the communists to cut back on their aggression abroad and to make peace concessions, the Congress, in a close vote, decided to cut off aid to the freedom fighters,” Reagan said, referring to the Sandinistas as “communists” and the Contras as “freedom fighters.”

“Instead of giving peace a chance, the aid cutoff is giving the communist dictators a chance, a chance they long hoped for--a chance to smash their opponents,” Reagan charged.

“They have hardened their negotiating position. They have fired the mediator, Cardinal (Miguel) Obando y Bravo. They have sent mobs of thugs against peaceful opposition groups. And now, instead of negotiating for a cease-fire, they’ve launched a major military assault on the weakened Contras, invading democratic Honduras in the process.”

Both the Sandinistas and the Contras have said they intend to stick to their already announced schedule for cease-fire talks, with the next round scheduled to begin Monday in the village of Sapoa on Nicaragua’s southwestern border with Costa Rica.

Reagan again urged Congress to renew aid to the Contras, and warned that without the rebels in the field, the United States will be faced with “a national security crisis of the first order.”