Commitment Remains

The failure of the Panama talks to produce a peace agreement for Central America is a deep disappointment--but, significantly, a setback that has not terminated the efforts of the Contadora nations to negotiate a settlement. Two issues stand out after the collapse of the meeting:

--Nicaragua’s Sandinista regime is isolated, accused by its neighbors of being the primary cause of the collapse of the meetings, the only one of the 13 participating Latin nations to reject the proposed agreement.

--The Latin nations, notwithstanding this diplomatic defeat, remain committed to a negotiated settlement of the regional crisis and remain opposed to U.S. assistance to the contras, the guerrilla movement fighting to overthrow the government of Nicaragua.

Nicaragua’s intransigence was, above all, a slap at the Latin nations that have worked diligently for three years to restore peace in Central America. It was the more troubling because it coincided with tightening repression within Nicaragua and a deepening of the rift with the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in Nicaragua. The fear of U.S. aggression, articulated by Nicaraguan leaders, is understandable, but not a persuasive defense of a stubbornness that blocked a promising step toward peace.

Mexico, Colombia, Panama and Venezuela--the Contadora nations--are now seeking to salvage something from the confusion and conflict of the weekend meeting. They have asked the nations of the region to respond within eight days to a new plan for an agreement at the beginning of June. That is a wise and useful move.

For the United States there is an urgent need to respect the process in which the Latin Americans are engaged, and also to respect their wish that the U.S. aid to the contras not be renewed. Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay--among them the most powerful nations of Latin America--are also engaged in the support of the Contadora nations. Anything that Washington might do to undermine this peace effort risks not only the fledgling democracies of Central America but also the giant new democracies of the continent.