Contras Plan to Boycott Talks on Cease-Fire

Contra leader Adolfo Calero said today that the rebels will not attend direct cease-fire negotiations the Sandinista government had scheduled to begin Wednesday in Nicaragua.

Calero said in a telephone interview from Miami that government officials talked to the rebel leaders on Monday “at the last minute” to tell them “that they were ready for a meeting.”

“Apparently what the Sandinista government wants is a unilateral show . . . ,” he said. “We are not willing to attend a unilateral meeting set up by the Sandinistas.”

Three days of talks were to be held at the frontier post of Sapoa, about 90 miles from the capital of Managua along the southern border with Costa Rica.

Calero said the rebels may agree to hold talks at a later date in Sapoa.

He complained the government had not responded to a statement the rebels issued last week calling for Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo to continue participating in the talks as a witness and for the talks to center on wider issues than just arrangements for a cease-fire between the warring sides.

Ortega Proposes Session

President Daniel Ortega proposed the talks last week. He also said Obando y Bravo, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Nicaragua, would no longer serve as a mediator as he had in previous discussions.

Ortega said the government delegation to the talks would be headed by his brother, Humberto Ortega, the defense minister and one of nine members on the ruling National Board of Directors.

The Contras named Calero to head their delegation, but insisted that the cardinal be a witness at the meeting.

Late Monday, the government said Obando y Bravo and Joao Baena Soares, secretary general of the Organization of American States, had agreed to serve as witnesses.

The government maintains that the talks should focus on the laying down of arms as outlined in the regional peace plan signed last August by the presidents of Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Honduras.

The rebels want the discussions to be expanded to include a proposal put forth in February in Guatemala City by the cardinal.