U.S. Cool to Defense Pact With a Worried Honduras

The Honduran government, increasingly worried about the consequences of close military cooperation with the United States, has gotten a cold response from U.S. officials to its demands for a special defense treaty, Honduran and U.S. sources say.

Honduras pressed the demand for a defense pact during a visit here last week by Robert C. McFarlane, President Reagan’s national security adviser, but his response was negative, officials from both sides said.

“The Hondurans made it clear they wanted something in writing. We made it clear that such a treaty was not in the cards,” said a U.S. official here.

Besides chafing at the image of being the gringos’ Central American lackey, Honduras frets that its neighbors--Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala--are arming at a threatening rate. Because of that, Honduras is asking for more U.S. military and economic aid, as well as a defense treaty.

The United States, though, maintains that the Hondurans are already protected under the hemisphere-wide Rio Treaty of 1947 and that their concerns about being left defenseless are exaggerated. “It’s a Honduran fantasy,” one American said.

And even though U.S. officials promised to seek increased aid for Honduras--which for the last few years has been considered a linchpin to U.S. policy in Central America--domestic budget-tightening seems a much bigger concern to Washington.

“Even if we don’t sign a treaty,” said a U.S. official, “where else can the Hondurans go?”

It is not clear what steps Honduras could take if it is left dissatisfied. Last fall, the United States and Honduras established government commissions to negotiate their differences, and officials say no threats have been made so far.

Still, the casual U.S. attitude is making Honduras increasingly restless. Honduran officials have begun expressing misgivings about all the cooperation they have given the United States in its twin efforts to exert military pressure on Marxist-led Nicaragua and to aid El Salvador’s government against a leftist insurgency.

Such cooperation has included:

--Playing host to CIA-backed Nicaraguan rebels who operate near the Honduran-Nicaraguan border.

--Conducting joint training and maneuvers with U.S. troops.

--Allowing the U.S. use of a major air base at Palmerola in central Honduras.

Second thoughts about all that activity began to emerge in March, after the ouster of Gen. Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, a U.S. friend, as army strongman. Since then, decisions have been subject to heavy wrangling within the powerful councils of the armed forces.

Both the military and the civilian government of President Roberto Suazo Cordova now place greater emphasis on Honduras’ own needs in its relations with Washington.

“Honduras is not here just to take orders from the U.S.,” said a government minister close to the president.

Honduran Foreign Minister Edgardo Paz Barnica told a press conference Tuesday, “We told Mr. McFarlane that the government and people of Honduras hope the United States would be as understanding with us as we have with the U.S.”

However, the Hondurans came away from the meeting only with a verbal promise that “the government of President Reagan will never abandon its friends in Central America,” Paz Barnica said.