Bush to Free El Salvador Military Aid
President Bush told Congress on Tuesday that he has decided to free $42.5 million in military aid for the government of El Salvador, saying Salvadoran rebels are committing human rights abuses and grabbing weapons.
But Bush said he would hold up dispensing the money for 60 days to coincide with elections in March for the Salvadoran National Assembly. This will give peace negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations “every chance to work,” Bush said.
He said he might “release military assistance sooner than 60 days in case of a compelling security need.”
The President’s decision was communicated to Congress as part of a status report on El Salvador’s peace process and its investigation of the November, 1989, murders of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her teen-age daughter.
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