Administration Approves Grant to Monitor Nicaraguan Truce

The Reagan Administration announced today approval of a $10-million grant to monitor compliance with the Nicaraguan peace process and it used the occasion to launch a harsh attack on the Sandinista government.

The administrator of the Agency for International Development, Alan Woods, charged that Nicaragua has engaged in a campaign of “harassment and intimidation” and “menacing militarism” in apparent violation of agreements signed by Sandinista authorities.

Shortly after the announcement of the grant was made, House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) criticized the Administration for taking six weeks to determine how to spend the funds. Other Democrats have made the same criticism.

The money was part of a $48-million package approved by Congress in late March, a week after Nicaragua’s leftist government and the Contra rebels signed a temporary truce at Sapoa, Nicaragua. That agreement called for the creation of a verification commission to monitor compliance.

Woods said: “Anyone who shares our interest in peace, democracy and reconciliation in Nicaragua must be greatly alarmed by the recent crackdown on human rights and civil liberties by the Sandinista government.”