Reagan Orders Discussion on Talks With Nicaragua

President Reagan, stepping up his bid for the support of wavering Democrats for aid to Nicaraguan rebels, said today that he is starting discussions to determine “how and when the United States could resume useful direct talks with Nicaragua.”

He also pledged to pursue “political, not military, solutions in Central America” and told one Democrat no U.S. troops would be used in the region.

And, Reagan said, “We do not seek the military overthrow of the Sandinista government or to put in its place a government based on supporters of the old (Anastasio) Somoza regime.” He said the United States would “support the democratic center against the extremes of both the right and the left.”

In a letter handed to a bipartisan congressional delegation that met with him at the White House, Reagan said he would instruct U.S. representatives to meet again with Nicaraguan officials “only when I determine that such a meeting would be helpful” in the effort to bring peace to the region.

Reagan said he planned to instruct his special Central-American ambassador to consult with governments in the region about the possibility of talks with the Sandinista government in Nicaragua.

The preliminary discussions would include the four Contadora countries--Mexico, Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica--who have proposed the outline of a regional settlement, and the Nicaraguan political opposition.

Reagan said direct talks with the Sandinistas, however, “cannot be a substitute for church-mediated dialogue between the contending factions and the achievement of a workable Contadora agreement.”

Rep. Dave McCurdy (D-Okla.), who voted against aid to the contra guerrillas in Nicaragua last month, but intends to support a compromise $27-million aid package scheduled for a vote on Wednesday, said that “some of us had influence and input into” the Reagan letter.