Sparks Along the Border

Border incidents have become a sad fact of life along the tense frontier between Honduras and Nicaragua in recent years, but last weekend’s clashes are especially worrisome because some of the tactics used represent an escalation in the level of fighting.

As often, reports provided by the two governments are vague and somewhat contradictory. Honduran officials claim that Nicaraguan troops pursuing contra rebels pushed deep into Honduran territory and attacked several military outposts and, for the first time, burned Honduran villages. In retaliation, Honduran aircraft have, also for the first time, bombed Nicaraguan military positions. Nicaragua’s Sandinista government admits that air attacks took place but insists that they were unprovoked and that the planes that carried out the raids may have been North American rather than Honduran.

The Reagan Administration, which has been backing the contras in their war to overthrow the Sandinistas, has rushed to the aid of Honduras in this latest bloodletting. U.S. helicopters and pilots based in Honduras are being used to ferry Honduran troops to airstrips less than 20 miles from the fighting. Administration officials insist that the U.S. troops involved are in no danger, so there is no need to invoke the War Powers Act, under which Congress must be informed when the President sends U.S. soldiers into combat.

But given the history of Reagan’s dirty little war against Nicaragua--a sordid story still unfolding as a result of the congressional hearings into the Administration’s sale of U.S. arms to Iran--it would be most unwise for Congress to wait patiently for an explanation about what is going on in Honduras. The appropriate members of Congress must insist that they be kept fully apprised of developments there, and they should also be prepared to forestall any attempt by the Administration to use the current fighting as an excuse to deepen U.S. involvement in the Central American crisis. Congress must not forget, in the heat of the moment, that problems between Honduras and Nicaragua might never have gotten as serious as they are without prodding from the United States. And a key reason Reagan and his aides have felt free to muck about in the region is because Congress could not muster up the courage to halt their mischief.

For the same reason, these latest border incidents must also be carefully monitored by the Contadora Group, which is trying to negotiate peace in Central America. The diplomats from Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Panama who are behind that peacemaking effort have taken heart from the Iranian arms scandal in Washington, hoping that it will weaken Reagan in Central America and revive the Contadora process. That is fervently to be hoped for, but before Contadora can be put back on track every effort must be made to simply stop all the shooting in the region. Contadora representatives must immediately approach Nicaragua and Honduras and press them to disengage from this latest battle. The sooner they do so, the less chance that these border incidents will become the sparks that spread Central America’s conflagration.