No Halt in Aid to Contras, Shultz Says

Secretary of State George P. Shultz, striking an unyielding pose on the eve of a meeting with Latin American foreign ministers, declared Sunday that the United States will continue funding rebels fighting Nicaragua’s Marxist regime “indefinitely.”

Shultz, en route to Colombia for a meeting of the Organization of American States, suggested that the United States would continue funding the rebels known as contras even if the Central American countries sign a peace treaty.

“Our commitment is indefinite,” Shultz said. “It’s just going to go on. I think the message is that . . . we have staying power.”

The secretary of state is scheduled to meet today in Cartagena, Colombia, with foreign ministers of the Contadora mediating group, which has been working for almost three years on a Central American pact.

A senior State Department official said Shultz expects to come under pressure from the foreign ministers to reopen bilateral U.S.-Nicaraguan talks or to make some other concession that would help the flagging negotiating process along.

“The Sandinistas act intransigent, and they all turn around and pressure us to make concessions,” the official complained. “But Shultz won’t give half an inch.”

The Contadora countries--Mexico, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela--are being joined in their talks by representatives of Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica.

Nicaragua has said it will not sign any pact until the United States halts its support for the contras.