4 Latin Leaders Delay Nicaragua Truce Plan

Four Central American presidents agreed Sunday night to take charge of faltering efforts to end the war in neighboring Nicaragua but delayed consideration of a Costa Rican peace plan for three months.

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez called the one-day summit to seek urgent approval of a detailed cease-fire proposal, which he wanted to offer to Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista government for acceptance within 15 days.

The plan calls for a halt of U.S. aid to the Nicaraguan contras, their return to peaceful dissidence under an amnesty and the start of talks between the Sandinistas and their unarmed opposition on democratic reforms.

Not Invited to Summit

But Nicaragua threatened to reject the initiative outright because it was not invited to the summit.

Instead of debating the plan itself, Presidents Jose Napoleon Duarte of El Salvador, Vinicio Cerezo Arevalo of Guatemala and Jose Azcona Hoyo of Honduras spent more than eight hours wrangling with Arias over how to present it to Daniel Ortega, the Nicaraguan leader.

The four presidents issued a statement calling Arias’ initiative a “viable, timely and constructive instrument for finding peace” in the five-year Nicaraguan conflict.

But they postponed its formal consideration until a new summit, to which Ortega will be invited. That meeting is to take place within 90 days, in Esquipulas, Guatemala.

The expanded summit was proposed by Cerezo, whose Guatemalan government has taken an independent stance in the diplomatic feuding between Nicaragua and the three other Central American nations, which are close allies of the United States.

Wanted a Consensus

Arias told a news conference that he excluded Nicaragua from this summit “to first achieve a consensus among countries that are democratic and pluralistic.”

But in doing so he appeared to sharpen the regional antagonisms that have frustrated the Contadora Group of Latin American nations-Mexico, Colombia, Panama and Venezuela--during a four-year peace effort.

Nicaraguan Vice President Sergio Ramirez said Friday the meeting was “already a failure.”

The Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry denounced the summit as a U.S.-inspired attempt by Washington’s allies to sabotage the Contadora peace effort.

Peace Efforts Falter

The Contadora effort has been paralyzed since last June by disagreements between Nicaragua and its neighbors over details of proposed limitations on military forces, withdrawal of foreign military advisers and steps toward democratization the region.

Last month, U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar led a two-day Contadora peace mission to all five Central American countries but reported “a lack of political will” to overcome the stalemate.

Arias said an agreement with Nicaragua will be difficult, but he added: “We must keep trying, however many times it is necessary. I think we all have an obligation to be optimists.”

The peace process launched here marked an attempt by Nicaragua’s neighbors to seize the initiative from the Contadora Group, which some have criticized as demanding too little of Nicaragua’s Sandinista government in the way of internal reforms.

Leadership Divided

It came at a time when the contra leadership is bitterly divided and the Iran-contras arms scandal has complicated Reagan Administration efforts to get Congressional backing for future aid to the rebels.

Western diplomats called the summit a sign of concern by all four elected civilian presidents that the Sandinistas, who came to power with Cuban support in 1979 after ousting dictator Anastasio Somoza, could pose an expansionist threat if the contras’ military effort collapses without a regional peace settlement.

Disputing official U.S. assessments, Arias insists the contras are too weak and divided to overthrow the Sandinistas or force them to the negotiating table.

His plan calls on foreign governments to stop aiding guerrilla forces in Central America, and would bar use of any Central American country by rebels fighting to overthrow the government of another.

Truce Proposed

It proposes a cease-fire in Nicaragua once the government opens talks with internal critics through a “national commission of reconciliation” made up of delegates from both sides and from the Roman Catholic Church.

Within 60 days, the Sandinistas would be required to end press censorship and restore other political liberties now suspended under a wartime state of emergency.

Although Arias has criticized as unfair the 1984 election that installed Ortega for a six-year presidency, his plan does not endorse a demand by the Nicaraguan opposition for early election of a new government.

But other proposed steps toward internal reconciliation are more specific than called for in four years of Contadora peace drafts.

Role Seen for U.N., OAS

The plan also goes beyond Contadora Group in proposing supervision of the agreements by a commission headed by the secretaries general of the United Nations and Organization of American States.

“This plan is a good basis for peace because it doesn’t favor anybody,” Arias said. He added that the proposals are open to modifications “because we are not owners of the truth.”

Costa Rican officials informed the Reagan Administration of their plan in early January before its existence became publicly known, but they deny it was Washington-inspired.

Carlucci Urged Changes

U.S. National Security Adviser Frank C. Carlucci asked Arias late last month to change the proposal to include talks between the Sandinistas and the exiled contra leadership, according to a Western diplomat and rebel officials.

But Arias, the informants said, insisted on limiting the talks to the Sandinistas and their “internal opposition,” including rebels who lay down their arms under an amnesty.

Rebel leaders have expressed similar reservations.

“We’re in favor of a cease-fire to explore a political solution,” said Alfonso Robelo, a leader of the United Nicaraguan Opposition. “But this should not mean dismantling the rebel forces. They have to remain intact and supplied.”

Peace Aims Praised

The U.S. State Department praised the summit’s peace aims but made no comment on the Arias plan prior to the meeting itself.

But Senator Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who is a leading critic of U.S. aid to the contras, praised the plan as “the last, best chance for achieving peace.”

Despite Managua’s harsh attack on the summit, diplomats and rebel leaders did not rule out an eventual Sandinista willingness to discuss the peace proposal.

Nicaragua last month expressed renewed willingness to sign a Contadora pact on arms limitations. It has already offered an amnesty to rebels and bilateral talks with Honduras to try to end rebel infiltration from Honduran territory. And it has said a cease-fire could lead to ending the state of emergency.