U.S. Vetoes Embargo Criticism but Backs Nicaragua Peace Moves

The United States, in an unusual move Friday, vetoed sections of a Security Council resolution critical of the U.S. trade embargo against Nicaragua but voted with other members to support both regional and bilateral peace negotiations in Central America.

U.S. Ambassador Jose S. Sorzano requested that the 16-paragraph draft resolution submitted by Nicaragua on Thursday be considered paragraph by paragraph, and much of the text was adopted unanimously by the 15-nation council.

But Sorzano voted against the resolution’s preamble, which alleged that the embargo endangers the stability of the region. He also vetoed two paragraphs that would have expressed the council’s “regret” at the U.S. action and called on “interested states” to abstain from imposing similar trade embargoes or blockades.

Vetoes 41-43

The three vetoes were the 41st, 42nd and 43rd cast by the United States in the council.

With the vetoed portions removed, the council adopted the resolution unanimously. The surviving sections reaffirm U.N. support for the Central American peace effort of the four-nation Contadora Group and call for resumption of bilateral talks between the United States and Nicaragua.

Sorzano, in requesting paragraph-by-paragraph consideration, said that it was “important to search for and to record areas of agreement.” He added: “We would very much appreciate the opportunity to demonstrate the very broad areas of agreement between the United States and Nicaragua.”

After the vote, Nicaraguan Ambassador Javier Chamorro Mora expressed satisfaction with the result and pleaded for an early resumption of bilateral talks at Manzanillo, Mexico, which Nicaragua asserted were broken off by the United States last November. He also appealed to the United States “truly to tackle the problems of Central America by backing the Contadora talks.

Sole U.S. Backer

During the three-day debate, Honduras was the only nation to support the United States’ argument that the embargo is a legitimate measure. Honduran Ambassador Roberto Herrera Caceres criticized Nicaragua for failing to carry out pledges of democratization and disarmament.

Other U.S. allies either remained silent or, if they addressed the issue, used the language of the resolution to say that they regretted the imposition of an embargo. Several speakers also appealed to the United States to back the Contadora process, by which Mexico, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela are seeking to settle Central American conflicts by mediation.

Soviet Ambassador Oleg A. Troyanovsky and other Soviet Bloc speakers taunted the United States for having vetoed proposed economic embargoes against Israel and South Africa in the past while defending its own unilateral action against Nicaragua.

REST OPTIONAL

Vietnamese representative Le Kim Cuhung warned that U.S. intervention in Central America could bring on “another inhuman, immoral and illegal war” like the war in Indochina. Referring to U.S. charges that Nicaragua has become a Soviet surrogate, Cuhung said “we were branded the instrument of the Soviet Union and China, so we are used to that old dirty trick. . . . As the victim of a U.S. war of criminal acts, we consider it our duty to place our testimony before the Security Council.”

Iranian Ambassador Said Rajaie-Khorassani said “the United States has a serious moral obligation not only to the people of Nicaragua but to the people of the United States itself, whose honor and reputation are being so depredated by a short sighted Administration.”