Shultz to Meet With Latin Leaders in 3-Day Visit

In a reflection of rising Administration concern over the stalemate in Nicaragua, Secretary of State George P. Shultz will pay a three-day visit to Central America at the end of this month for meetings with leaders in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica.

Announcing the mission, which seemingly edges the United States toward more direct involvement in stalled peace talks between the leftist Sandinista government and the U.S.-supported Contras, the State Department said that Shultz would “reaffirm the unwavering commitment of the United States to peace, democracy and respect for human rights in the region.”

The trip, scheduled for June 29 to July 1, was announced in the aftermath of a new round of talks with members of Congress on a possible new Contra aid request and shortly after the secretary paid a hospital call on ailing Salvadoran President Jose Napoleon Duarte.

President Reagan, in his regular Saturday radio talk, suggested that he is ready for another battle with Congress over an aid request, and his dispatch of Shultz was seen as a means of stressing the Administration’s support of a peaceful solution to the war in Nicaragua.

Ending a broadcast devoted mainly to this week’s economic summit in Canada, Reagan accused Nicaragua of using the peace talks for “political theater.”

He said that Congress, in refusing the Administration’s last aid request in February, “took a dangerous gamble with our national security and the prospects for democracy in Central America.

Last August, five Central American presidents, meeting in Guatemala, signed a regional accord seeking to end hostilities across the region, but earlier this month, there was a breakdown in direct talks between Contra leaders and the Nicaraguan government, seeking a permanent cease-fire.

Saying that the talks remained at an impasse, Reagan on Saturday declared that the Nicaraguan “freedom fighters” had been victimized by “the Sandinistas’ bad faith and Congress’ bad judgment.”

“The leaders of the Resistance, who courageously went to Managua to seek concrete democratic freedoms were instead subjected to lies, abuse, harassment and threats of physical harm by the Communist government,” he added.

The Administration has kept the United States at a distance from the talks, spurning a recommendation, offered months ago by then-special emissary Philip C. Habib, that Shultz undertake a personal initiative.

Although Shultz has made short trips to Central America, the upcoming mission will apparently represent his most intensive personal involvement in the Nicaraguan conflict since 1984.

In remarks broadcast from the White House, Reagan stopped short of saying he will renew a request for aid to the Contra forces, but he made it clear he has not abandoned hope for the Contras nor modified his views on the importance of their fight against the government in Managua.

“I have warned that if we fail in Nicaragua, we could one day face a Communist Central America spreading subversion northward and southward,” he said.

Contra leaders want the United States to provide a military aid package that would match what the Sandinistas receive from the Soviet Union. They now maintain they will not return to the stalled talks if forced to negotiate from a position of weakness.