Latin Policy of U.S. Viewed as Dividing NATO

Increasing friction between the Reagan Administration and West European governments over U.S. policy in Central America could seriously weaken the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, two high-level European officials warned in a report released Saturday by the independent Council on Foreign Relations.

The report contained a scathing denunciation of U.S. policy by Spanish Foreign Minister Fernando Moran, who warned that any direct American military intervention in Central America could prompt Spain’s Socialist government to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

However, American policy was staunchly defended by Alois Mertes, the second-ranking official in the West German Foreign Ministry.

Congressional Critic

And, in one article in the report, a leading U.S. congressional critic of the Reagan Administration’s Central America policy concluded that the issue would not have much effect on U.S.-NATO relations.

“The alliance has a very high tolerance for the behavior--even the misguided behavior--of its members in the areas of special concern to a given member but marginal to the alliance,” said Rep. Michael D. Barnes (D-Md.), chairman of the House subcommittee on inter-American affairs.

Still, in lengthy articles in the report, both European officials concluded that further deterioration of the Central American situation, especially if accompanied by large-scale U.S. troop involvement, could damage NATO unity. Especially endangered is the solidarity of Spain, because of its interest in Latin America as a former colonial power there.

In Europe, Moran said, the result would be to “strengthen neutralist and pacifist movements to such an extent that it could jeopardize the continued participation in NATO of some of its members, especially Spain.”

The Madrid government, while a member of the alliance, choses not participate in NATO defense matters.

Decrying what he termed “the radical policies enunciated by Washington,” Moran declared that “if the dream of a military solution to the crisis leads to a massive U.S. military intervention, whether in El Salvador to support a legitimate government or in Nicaragua against the Sandinista regime, the impact on Spanish public opinion will be very great. It could substantially alter the basis on which Spain is formulating a solution to the problem of its specific alliance engagement and its contribution to the defense of the West.”

President Reagan and other U.S. officials have frequently said that they want to avoid the use of American troops in Central America.

No Flexibility

Mertes urged European countries to support U.S. policy and “avoid positions and situations that would leave the United States no alternative but that of either losing credibility as the leading Western power or of resorting to a military intervention.”

“Were Central America to distract the United States psychologically, politically or militarily from the focal point of the Soviet threat and of Western security--namely Europe--the consequences for the cohesion of the Atlantic Alliance would be incalculable,” he said.

Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, in an interview with The Times, acknowledged that the Central American situation has caused strains in the Western Alliance and said that he spends a great deal of time trying to reassure NATO allies about U.S. policies in the region.

The same kind of strain developed over the deployment of cruise and Pershing 2 missiles in Europe, he said, “but NATO stood firm and the deployments are going ahead, and I would hope that there’d be the same kind of understanding we could achieve about Latin America. But they’re right. It causes strains. There’s no question about it.”

Release of the council’s report, “Third World Instability: Central America as a European-American Issue,” comes as the White House is making final plans for President Reagan’s April 30 trip to Europe, a 10-day visit.

Central America is expected to be a major topic of discussion both in Bonn, where Reagan will meet with the leaders of Japan, Canada and four European countries in their annual economic summit meeting, and in Madrid, where the President will see Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez.

In his article, Moran cited “substantial resistance” that he said has already developed in Europe to the Reagan Administration’s policy of treating the crisis as an aspect of East-West conflict. The Administration’s approach, he said, implies that possible solutions to the crisis must be subordinated to the higher goals of global politics.

Because of his country’s “understanding of the region and the proven reluctance of the government of Felipe Gonzalez to let its policies be affected by ideological prejudices,” Moran declared, “Spain’s views on Central America can have some degree of influence on other, less-concerned European governments.”

Moran viewed the American invasion of Grenada in October, 1983, as a “clear signal” that the United States would--if it deemed it necessary--intervene militarily in the region without consulting its allies. And he said that while Spain was the only NATO country to “energetically” criticize the invasion, “not a single European government supported it openly.”

Mertes, minister of state in the conservative West German government, said Central America tests the credibility of European solidarity with the United States, especially since in the Western Alliance--unlike in the Eastern Bloc--”there is an open and critical discussion about the policies of all its members.”

“This includes the policies of its leading power, the United States, whose strategic credibility (including its option of nuclear first use) is crucial to Europe’s security,” he said. “In view of this, the United States must be able to expect that its European partners will not impute malevolence to their main ally in its policy toward Central America.”