Contras Agree to Sandinistas’ Agenda for Talks, Assail U.S.

The Nicaraguan Contras today dropped a key demand blocking peace talks with the Sandinista government and lashed out at the United States, saying the nation “has once again abandoned an ally.”

Adolfo Calero, who will head the Contra peace delegation, said the rebels will now accept an open agenda for talks in Sapoa, Nicaragua, as the Sandinistas have proposed.

“We are ready to go to Sapoa,” said Calero, proposing that talks begin March 16.

He said the Nicaraguan Resistance, as the Contras call themselves, would no longer insist that the agenda include a program hammered out during talks mediated by Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo in Guatemala last month. That included a 30-day truce, political amnesty, press freedoms, an end to the draft, and a dialogue with the opposition.

The Contras proposed instead that the Sandinistas allow the “internal opposition” to attend the talks, but stopped short of saying they would insist on that condition.

Calero took the opportunity to bitterly criticize the United States for cutting off aid to the Contras. A Reagan Administration proposal to continue funding the Nicaraguan rebels lost in a close vote in the U.S. House of Representatives March 3.

“The United States has once again abandoned an ally,” said Calero. “But we have been abandoned before. We will continue our efforts.”

He called the United States “an inconsistent and impermanent” friend, in contrast to the Soviet support for the Sandinistas.