It Doesn’t Jibe

President Reagan is trying to change signals on Nicaragua, saying that he wants a peaceful end to the bloodshed there. If he means it, we would be all for it, given that his Administration is largely to blame for the violence in that small nation. But Reagan’s record on Nicaragua provides grounds for doubt about his sincerity.

In a speech to the American Newspaper Publishers Assn., the President toned down the bellicose rhetoric that he often uses in attacking Nicaragua’s Sandinista government and in criticizing members of Congress who oppose U.S. aid to the anti-government rebels in that country, the contras. Reagan said that his Administration “has always supported regional diplomatic initiatives” for peace in Central America, and will support any future negotiations as well. But that simply does not jibe with past campaigns by Administration officials to scuttle draft peace treaties and to sabotage peace talks arranged by the Latin American allies through the Contadora Group.

We suspect that Reagan’s speech is really just part of an effort to sound reasonable now that Congress is preparing to discuss an additional $105 million in military aid to the contras. For, despite the moderate language, the thrust of his Nicaragua policy is still bloody and dangerous.

Even in his weekend speech, for example, the President insisted that the contras must have U.S. support so that they can apply the military pressure that would push the Sandinistas to negotiate. But Nicaragua, along with virtually every other major Latin American nation, insists that negotiations will get nowhere in Central America until the United States stops threatening the Sandinistas, which would mean an end to the covert contra war. Reagan cannot have it both ways, and as long as his thinking remains so muddled on the issue Congress would be better advised to listen to the Latin Americans.