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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MARCH 18, 1983
PAGE 11
million in economic assistance. At the same time, the President outlined
U.S. Central American policy in a March 10, 1983 speech before the National
Association of Manufacturers in Washington. In it, Mr. Reagan said:
I know a good many people wonder why we should care about whether
Communist governments come into power in Nicaragua, El Salvador
or other such countries as Costa Rica and Honduras, Guatemala and
the islands of the Caribbean••••
People who make these arguments haven't taken a good look at a
map lately or followed the extraordinary buildup of Soviet and
Cuban military power in the region or read the Soviets' discus
sions about why the region is important to them and how they in
tend to use it.
.fl
isn't nutmeg that's at stake in the Caribbean
and Central America; it is the United States' national security.
Soviet military theorists want to destroy our capacity to re
supply Western Europe in case of an emergency. They want to tie
down our attention and forces on our own southern border and so
limit our capacity to act in more distant places such as Europe,
the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean, the Sea of Japan••••
We've been slow to understand that the defense of the Caribbean
and Central America against a Marxist-Leninist takeover is vital
to our national security in ways we're not accustomed to thinking
about.
.
The U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT for March 21, 1983 summarized the concerns of
the President--not shared by many members of Congress--in this fashion:
Behind the Salvadoran struggle, Reagan believes, is a Communist
threat "aimed at the very heart of the Western Hemisphere and
eventually at us." At stake, in the President's view, are the
vital sea-lanes of th""e"Panama Canal, the Caribbean and the Gulf
of Mexico, through which pass half �U.S. import�including
large quantities of oil. The region, Reagan believes, consti
tutes this country's "fourth border" and is of strategic impor
tance for resupplying Western Europe in case of an emergency.
Equally central to the Reagan policy is a fear that victory by
the insurgents in El Salvador would expose the governments of
other Central American countries, including oil-rich Mexico, to
similar subversion.
Echoing the President's concern is Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger.
On at least two occasions recently, Secretary Weinberger has expressed his
view that the ultimate aim of the Soviets in the Western Hemisphere is to
bring revolution right up to the southern border of the United States. This
will cause the U.S., he says, to bring military forces back from Western
Europe and Asia in order to defend the national integrity of the United
States. Europe and Asia would then be exposed to the full military and
political leverage of the Soviets.
After the West German elections, Moscow probably realizes that the "main
front" in Europe will not be broken for some time. Hence, now is the time
to probe Western--meaning mainly u.s.--weaknesses in other vital, but sub-