Nicaraguans Accuse U.S. of Scuttling Talks

The leftist Sandinista government on Thursday accused the United States of pressuring Costa Rica to use a dispute with Nicaragua to scuttle the latest round of regional peace efforts by the Contadora Group.

In a statement issued here, Foreign Minister Miguel D’Escoto said the peace effort “finds itself seriously affected by the irresponsible and bellicose policies of the United States government.”

However, in an interview Thursday in Washington, Secretary of State George P. Shultz said: “We’re ready to help the Contadora process in any way we can. We tried. But we don’t see the talks with Nicaragua getting anywhere.”

Last-Minute Action

The two-year-old Contadora Group--consisting of Mexico, Panama, Venezuela and Colombia--was scheduled to meet in Panama on Thursday with five Central American countries to begin work on a new draft of the verification provision of a proposed treaty aimed at ending conflict in the region.

But the talks were postponed at the last minute. Honduras, Costa Rica and El Salvador said they would not attend because of the dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua over the case of Jose Manuel Urbina Lara, 37, a Nicaraguan who took refuge in the Costa Rican Embassy in Managua last August.

Costa Rica charged that Nicaraguan security agents arrested Urbina at the embassy, a violation of the right of political asylum. Nicaragua said it detained the alleged army deserter after he left the embassy voluntarily.

Urbina is now serving a five-year prison term in Nicaragua for desertion, and Costa Rica says it will not participate in any peace effort until he is freed or returned to the embassy.

‘Sympathetic’ to Costa Rica

After the Contadora meeting was canceled, Reagan Administration officials said they support the boycott and are sympathetic to the case of Costa Rica, which serves as a base for U.S.-backed guerrillas battling the Sandinistas.