President Links Contra Aid to Truce, Peace Talks : Congress Democrats, Nicaragua Denounce President’s Program

Congressional Democrats and Nicaragua’s leftist government Thursday denounced President Reagan’s new request for aid to the anti-Sandinista rebels, but both admitted that he might gain some ground in Congress by linking the aid with a call for peace negotiations.

Behind Reagan’s high-profile announcement of his aid proposal and the Democrats’ equally fervent replies was a contest over the terms of the coming debate on aid to the rebels, known as contras. Each side wants to claim that its position represents peace and democracy.

Reagan presented his formal request for $14 million for the contras as a “peace plan,” arguing that the Sandinistas will negotiate with the rebels only if the contras are in a position of strength.

“Democracy is the road to peace,” the President said, “but Congress must release the funds that can create incentives for dialogue and peace.”

Democrat ‘Peace Plan’

Democratic leaders in the House, protesting that aid to the rebels is more likely to promote war than peace, said they will introduce a “peace plan” of their own.

“We generally share the same goals,” said Rep. Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.), the House majority whip. “We’re talking about peace in the region and development of stable relations between states, development of economic programs and democratic institutions.

“We do not believe carrying on an armed attack on Nicaragua, with which we are at peace and with which we have democratic relations, is going to do that.”

More bluntly, House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) called Reagan’s proposal “a dirty trick.” He said, “In my opinion, the President of the United States will not be satisfied or happy until United States troops are in there.”

The Nicaraguan government flatly rejected the idea of peace talks with the contras, as it has ever since such talks were proposed by the contras March 2.

“The government of Nicaragua will never negotiate with this CIA-created group,” Nicaraguan Ambassador Carlos Tunnermann said in a written statement. “They are guilty of the most atrocious crimes against the Nicaraguan people.”

Opposition to resumption of U.S. aid to the contras was also expressed by the Inter-American Dialogue, a panel of former U.S. and Latin American leaders. It issued a statement urging the Sandinistas to negotiate with the rebels but also urged an end to U.S. support for them. The panel’s chairman is Sol M. Linowitz, one of the U.S. negotiators of the Panama Canal Treaties during the Carter Administration.

Foley and other congressional Democrats dismissed the President’s request for aid as merely a repackaging of the Administration’s existing position of support for the contras. “It’s old wine in new bottles,” he said.

A State Department official acknowledged: “There’s no new position there. We’ve been saying most of these things for a long time. What is new is the explicit linkage of the aid with the peace talks, the possibility of making the aid humanitarian instead of military.”

The proposal is aimed more at Congress than at the Sandinistas, the State Department official said. If a dozen undecided House members can be won over, he said, Reagan can win his yearlong battle to renew the funding. The Senate already has scheduled a vote on April 23, and the House will vote within a week of that.

Close Vote Predicted

Several leading Democrats agreed that the President has won some new support. “I think it’s going to be very, very close,” said Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (R-Ind.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and an opponent of contra aid. “If the vote were held today, I don’t know how it would go. . . . This President can be very persuasive.”

Foley, whose job it is to count votes for the Democrats, said he expects the President to be defeated. But he conceded: “I think it’s going to be close in the House.”

Democratic leaders agreed to introduce their own bill calling on the Sandinistas to negotiate with the contras through the Contadora Group, which consists of four Latin nations that are seeking settlement of Central American conflicts by mediation.

Rep. Michael D. Barnes (D-Md.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Latin America, scheduled hearings next week to highlight the Democratic position. “We don’t want the Administration to be acting in a vacuum,” a Barnes aide said.