Aug. 13, 1983
President Reagan, seeking to break the Democratic grip on the Hispanic vote, plans to offer a relief program today to aid border-state businessmen hard hit by the devaluation of the peso aides say.
Reagan arrived in El Paso Friday, prepared to deliver his regular Saturday radio address here and to speak to the American GI Forum, founded after World War II by Mexican-American veterans.
Spokesman Larry Speakes told reporters Reagan will announce formation of "an inter-agency action group" made up of eight Cabinet officials who will implement the recommendations Reagan has approved to ease the financial pain suffered in the border states because of the Mexico's monetary pinch.
Tecas Gov. Mark White, who denounced Reagan and his "limousine and caviar crowd" in a speech to the GI forum Thursday, will deliver he Democratic rebuttal to the president's radio remarks.
White warned the forum that Republicans, in their effort to win Hispanic voters, are conducting a "cynical public relations blitz."
The duel between Reagan and White appeared to symbolize the battle for crucial Hispanic votes that is shaping up in the 1984 presidential race.
Reagan flew to Texas from Tampa, Fla., on the first leg of a three-week journey to be highlighted by several speeches pitched to Hispanics and a trip across the California border to meet Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid. He also plans some time out for a vacation at his Santa Barbara, Calif. ranch.
On his arrival in El Paso, he met with the leaders of several Hispanic organizations and touched base with local Republican leaders.
Outside his hotel, where he will spend two nights before going to La Paz, Mexico, on Sunday, demonstrators held up a smattering of dissident signs that read,"Four years is enough." "Create jobs. Not War" and "We want jobs, not bombs."
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