Honduras Striving to Resolve Political Wrangle

Military officials, politicians and union leaders worked Monday to resolve Honduras’ nagging domestic political struggle, a conflict marked by clashing ambitions, slander, threats and one notable arrest.

For two months, Honduran President Roberto Suazo Cordova and his rivals in the Honduran Congress have been deadlocked over control of nominating procedures for candidates to succeed Suazo, whose four-year term is ending.

The proposed settlement calls for the printing of multi-candidate ballots for the November presidential elections that will permit Suazo’s opponents in each of the two major political parties, as well as his own hand-picked candidates in each party, to compete in the balloting. Suazo cannot himself legally be a candidate for a second term.

This apparent easing of the conflict coincided with Suazo’s arrival in Washington on an official visit that includes a meeting today with President Reagan.

The wrangling in Tegucigalpa has proven to be an embarrassment for the Reagan Administration, which backs Honduras’ new democracy and views this country as an ally in its campaign to thwart what it sees as expansionist policies of the Marxist-led Sandinista regime in neighboring Nicaragua.

U.S. Embassy officials here have expressed concern about Suazo’s power plays, which have been opposed by the armed forces. These officials believe such tactics could result in a coup that would revive Honduras’ old image as a military-bossed banana republic and cause the U.S. Congress to cut or end military and economic aid for the country.

The accord being worked out Monday would represent a compromise between the president, who wants candidates to be nominated by party conventions, and his opponents in the Congress, who favor primary elections. The system of multiple candidates being discussed in effect combines the primary and general election processes.

Suazo has been accused of rigging nominating conventions of both major parties through his control of the Supreme Court and the National Electoral Tribunal.

The compromise would also set free Ramon Valladares Soto, a political opponent of Suazo whom the president ordered jailed in March after Congress here named him as chief justice of the Supreme Court in place of a Suazo ally.

As prelude to the expected accord, the military has reasserted itself as arbiter of civilian disputes here. On Sunday, armed forces chief Gen. Walter Lopez presented the proposed settlement to Suazo in a meeting that took place just hours before both departed for the United States.

The military put pressure on Suazo by encouraging trade and peasant unions to threaten to go on strike if the deadlock continued. A strike action might precipitate a crisis that would serve as an excuse for a coup.

Monday’s meeting was held in air force headquarters on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa.

The conflict has managed to damage the reputation of almost everyone involved.

Suazo, a card-playing country doctor, has tried to gather support by offering payoffs to top military officers, according to Western diplomats and Honduran officials.