Latin Chiefs Fail to Agree on Key Issues : Central Americans Extend Deadline on Contadora Accord

In two days of meetings here, the presidents of five Central American countries failed to reach agreement on major issues that would lead them closer to signing a Contadora peace accord.

Instead, the presidents of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica agreed to postpone the June 6 deadline that other Latin American countries had imposed for signing an accord.

The summit meeting in this mountain town in western Guatemala marked the first time that all five presidents have met since Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista government came to power in 1979.

In a joint declaration that one Honduran official described as “thin,” the presidents said they are determined to sign a regional peace treaty drawn up by the so-called Contadora Group--Mexico, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela. But they acknowledged that they have not resolved the outstanding key issues of arms control, regional military maneuvers and verification of compliance.

‘Differences, Discrepancies’

Guatemalan President Vinicio Cerezo read the declaration that he signed along with Presidents Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Jose Napoleon Duarte of El Salvador, Jose Azcona Hoyo of Honduras and Oscar Arias Sanchez of Costa Rica, noting that “differences and discrepancies” remain among the neighbors.

The presidents said they will meet again but did not set another date. They agreed to Cerezo’s proposal to create a permanent Central American parliament and said their vice presidents will meet within a month to draw up a treaty.

The joint declaration says each country’s representative to the parliament will be “freely elected” by popular vote, a point Costa Rica apparently insisted upon.

Sources said a good deal of the more than 10 hours of talks focused on the ideological issues of democracy and pluralism, with tension running high between Presidents Ortega of Nicaragua and Arias of Costa Rica.

Different Concepts

Ortega told reporters afterward, “We have our concept of democracy, and the president of Costa Rica has his concept of democracy.”

Arias in turn told reporters, “Nicaragua still has a long way to go to have the characteristics of a democratic government.”

Nicaraguan sources charged that Costa Rica deferred to the Reagan Administration during the talks. The United States opposes the Marxist-led government of Nicaragua and supports Nicaraguan rebels fighting to overthrow the Sandinista regime.

U.S.-backed Honduras, El Salvador and Costa Rica usually side with the United States on issues related to Nicaragua, and Washington officials have recently warned U.S. allies to stand firm on the armament and verification issues in a peace treaty. American officials said recently they would not respect a treaty unless the language on these issues met with their satisfaction

Disagreements, Delays

The signing of the declaration was delayed for several hours because of disagreements, and the final statement was significantly weaker than a draft that had been approved by the countries’ vice presidents on May 4. It omitted a phrase that had been in the draft calling the five presidents “freely elected by the will of the majority,” also at the insistence of Costa Rica, and did not condemn the use of economic aggression and violence.

In what appear to be concessions to the U.S. allies, the final declaration states that “peace in Central America can only be the fruit of an authentic, pluralistic and participatory democratic process” and adds that each country has the right to have its own economic model as long as that model is the result “of the freely expressed will of its people.”

The final declaration says, “We recognize the need to sign a Contadora agreement, but first, of course, it would be necessary to resolve certain problems.”

Foreign Ministry officials from each country will meet in Panama this week to continue trying to hammer out the language of agreement on arms control, military maneuvers and verification of compliance. And officials here were stressing that it is the function of the technicians, not the presidents, to find the precise words necessary.

The Contadora peace process takes its name from the Panamanian island of Contadora, where officials of Mexico, Panama, Venezuela and Colombia first met in January, 1983, to try to negotiate peace in Central America. They have since been joined by a support group--Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

In a meeting in Panama last month, the Contadora countries called for the Central Americans to sign an agreement by June 6.

The five presidents’ declaration says, “We have found the distinct proposals presented by the countries to be sufficiently fertile and realistic as to facilitate the signing of the act.” But the declaration makes no mention of a date.

‘It’s a Little Thin’

Honduran Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez Contreras said “it’s risky” to pin the presidents to a date, adding, “Then what happens if they announce that they are going to sign, and problems come up?” Asked about the joint declaration, Lopez said, “It’s a little thin.” He said that the five did not agree on the essential issues of democracy, disarmament and national reconciliation and that therefore those items were left out.

“The conditions are not there for signing Contadora on June 6,” said a Nicaraguan diplomat. “The sixth of June was an unrealistic date.”

The United States insists that the Sandinistas must hold “national reconciliation” talks to reincorporate the rebels, known as contras, into the country before Washington will stop aiding them.

Nicaragua’s Ortega told reporters after the meeting broke up that he presented a new arms control proposal to the other leaders, but he said he would not release details until he returned to Nicaragua