Reagan Ties Contra Aid to Truce, Peace Talks : $14 Million Would Go for Food, Medicine if Negotiations Begin

President Reagan, calling for a cease-fire and negotiations between the Nicaraguan government and guerrillas, asked Congress on Thursday to release $14 million for the rebels on condition that the money be used only for food, clothing and medicine--not for military assistance--if the talks take place.

But while announcing that he is temporarily abandoning his efforts to obtain the $14 million for direct military aid in the face of overwhelming congressional opposition, the President emphasized that he is still strongly committed to the rebels, known as contras.

‘Not Going to Quit’

“We’re not going to quit and walk away from them no matter what happens,” the President vowed to reporters at a White House briefing when asked what he would do if Congress rejected his latest plan.

National security adviser Robert C. McFarlane, undoubtedly aiming his words at skeptical members of Congress, said later that the contras could not guarantee that they would receive military aid merely by walking away from negotiations with the leftist Sandinista government.

“If the contras walk away having clearly not acted in good faith and having demonstrated no interest in what they say they espouse, the President could not in good conscience deliver that (military) assistance,” McFarlane said. “. . .If there were to be stonewalling, if there were to be muddy-mindedness in the negotiations, those would be reasons to reconsider.”

But Reagan said, in answer to a question, that “if after 60 days (of negotiation) no agreement can be reached, and unless both sides ask us to continue the same process, then I would think we could use that $14 million to help the contras in any way.”

This would also presumably pave the way for Reagan to release the funds for military purposes if the Sandinistas refuse to begin negotiations.

The Nicaraguan government, shortly after Reagan’s announcement, asserted that it will not negotiate with the contras in any case. Sarali Porta, spokeswoman for the Nicaraguan Embassy here, said: “We want to talk with the U.S. Administration. We don’t see any difference between military aid and what they’re calling humanitarian aid. It all goes to support the contras’ war.”

However, an anonymous State Department senior official--expressing neither pessimism nor optimism--said that Reagan’s proposal “was not formally rejected” by the Nicaraguan Embassy when it was officially delivered in a diplomatic note.

The principal change in Reagan’s strategy to obtain congressional release of the $14 million--actually approved last year but bottled up pending additional votes--was his repackaging of his pending aid request into “a proposal for peace” that would suspend U.S. military assistance for the rebels during negotiations.

“While the cease-fire offer is on the table, I pledge these funds will not be used for arms or munitions,” Reagan said. “These funds would be used for food, clothing and medicine and other support for survival.”

The Administration had already endorsed a manifesto signed March 2 by 21 Nicaraguan opposition leaders offering a cease-fire in the civil war in exchange for negotiations mediated by the Roman Catholic Church. The rebels put an April 20 deadline on their offer, which they extended on Thursday to June 1 at Reagan’s request.

The Sandinistas have flatly rejected the guerrillas’ offer. But Colombian President Belisario Betancur, after meeting Thursday with Reagan, flew to Managua to try to persuade Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega to accept the plan.

Under the Reagan-supported rebel proposal, Ortega could retain his presidency but would have to call elections for a new legislature in which contra candidates could run. Ortega also would have to submit himself to a referendum, and “all foreign internationalists,” including Soviet and Cuban advisers, would have to leave the country.

Betancur, who called Reagan’s plan “a positive sign,” has been a leading figure in the Central America peace-seeking efforts of the so-called Contadora Group--Mexico, Colombia, Panama and Venezuela.

Reagan announced his proposal at the White House after having sent Congress on Wednesday night a classified report on his Nicaraguan policy. The report set into motion a strict timetable that will force votes on the controversial contra aid program at a crucial time for Reagan diplomatically--just before he leaves on a 10-day trip to Europe on April 30 to attend an annual economic summit meeting of seven industrialized nations, to be held in Bonn.

Votes were tentatively set in the Senate for April 23 and in the House on or before April 30.

“The President will be very active on this issue between now and the vote,” McFarlane said. For example, he is expected to promote his proposal in Washington on April 15--the day after he returns from a 10-day Santa Barbara Easter vacation--at a Nicaraguan Refugee Fund dinner at which Bob Hope will be the master of ceremonies.

Reagan’s advisers had been divided on how to proceed with his stymied efforts to help the anti-Sandinista rebels. Their searching for a solution reached a crucial point on Wednesday after House Republican Leader Robert H. Michel of Illinois informed the President that his military aid program was “dead in the water,” unless it was modified.

One Administration official, speaking on condition he not be identified, said the battle among advisers centered principally on whether the new effort should be shaped as a peace proposal or a “comprehensive package of pressure” on Managua, including economic sanctions and a break in diplomatic relations.

McFarlane said that Reagan decided on the peace approach.