WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jack Kemp, R-N.Y., Monday proposed a long-term aid program for Central America, similar to the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after World War II, coupled with military aid to fight 'Soviet-Cuban aggression.'
Kemp, a congressional adviser to the National Bipartisan Commission on Central America, said in a letter to commission chairman Henry Kissinger that the United States must undertake an 'Alliance for Prosperity' that also would include U.S. help in restructuring the region's massive foreign debt.
Only a two-pronged policy of economic prosperity and military security can solve the region's problems, he said in the letter, which was made available to United Press International.
'There can be little chance for economic growth and democracy while these nations are attacked by Cuban and Soviet-sponsored guerrillas,' he said. 'And there can be little hope of them independently maintaining the people's security against these attacks so long as poverty and economic stagnation pervade their societies.'
Kemp, a conservative, said the United States should first help Central American countries reinvigorate their economies by encouraging private enterprise investment and the abandonment of tax policies and other policies that 'have led to stagnation, unemployment and the crushing level of debt.'
While this process is under way, the United States should provide an 'economic umbrella,' including greater access to U.S. markets for their exports. President Reagan's Caribbean Basin Initiative already provides enhanced investment incentives for U.S. investors, he said.
Then, the United States should help the region restructure its debt to get away from 'the terrible anti-growth austerity programs of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) which are so feared in the ragion.'
'With these economic policies in place, we can undertake a long-term assistance program in the traditioN qn384of thecess,' he said.
To protectF3.:I> QDD'c?Hp.Zpw, nD zz3 ?Zraid, ?'We must first help our allies in Central America win the war against Soviet-Cuban aggression.'
He proposed increased aid to the Salvadoran military, 'greatly increased' military aid to the entire region, continued presence of U.S. naval and ground forces after current exercises are completed, support for guerrillas in Nicaragua and the encouragement of a common front of Central American nations against 'Soviet proxies.'
