Shultz’s Nicaragua Stance Shunned : Guatemala Session Yields Only Mild Pro-Peace Statement

Secretary of State George P. Shultz failed Monday to get four Central American nations to condemn Nicaragua for allegedly refusing to implement a regional peace plan, settling instead for a mildly worded statement calling for renewed efforts to end conflicts in the area.

Any hope Shultz had of getting unanimous agreement on a tough anti-Sandinista stand disappeared even before he arrived here to meet with the four regional democracies’ foreign ministers on the first stop of a 10-day Latin American tour.

After a daylong meeting, the foreign ministers issued a communique in which they said they “confirmed their respect for the principles of peace, democracy, security, social justice and economic growth.”

The statement lacked any specifics, emphasizing the general agreement that peace is necessary in the region.

Arias’ Private Position

Honduras, which most closely follows U.S. wishes in Central American policy, said the four countries had agreed July 22 to a strongly worded statement on Nicaragua. But Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez had made it clear privately that he would not accept any joint statement condemning the Sandinistas if the United States was a participant or if the statement appeared to have been dictated by Washington.

Arias’ view is crucial because he was the architect of a peace plan signed last Aug. 7 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as a result.

Guatemala, which publicly follows a policy of neutrality in the conflict between the United States and Nicaragua, also declined to join in any harsh criticism of the Managua regime.

Nicaragua was not invited to the foreign ministers’ meeting.

Costa Rican officials repeated Monday that Arias is “opposed to any kind of condemnation of Nicaragua” in a joint declaration involving the United States. If there is any condemnation, they said, it should be carried out by the Central Americans themselves and not as part of any U.S. plan.

Waiting for Next Year

Arias was described as unwilling to say or do anything definitive until the Reagan Administration leaves office early next year. “He is waiting for the new U.S. Administration,” sources said.

The latest American effort to get the Central Americans to blame the Sandinistas for the failure of the Arias peace plan came last month, according to Honduran officials, after rejection of a document that they called a virtual declaration of war.

This document, the so-called “second American draft,” had been accepted by Costa Rica and Guatemala as well as by El Salvador and Honduras, the Hondurans said, but just a few days ago Arias and Guatemalan President Vinicio Cerezo Arevalo both reneged.

Arias and Cerezo denied through officials Monday that they had agreed last month to any condemnation of the Sandinistas.

And Guatemalan Foreign Minister Alfonso Cabrera Hidalgo tried to quiet reports that Shultz had sought a declaration by the foreign ministers that would blame the Nicaraguans for the peace plan’s near-total failure.

‘No Bellicose Plan’

“There were no pressures. There was no bellicose plan presented, and neither was there a plan from Shultz,” he said.

Elliot Abrams, assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs, told reporters on the flight from Washington to Guatemala that reports that the Central American democracies were being pressed to accept any “second draft” condemning the Sandinistas were “dead wrong.”

However, the Hondurans stuck by their version of events. They said the statements from Costa Rica and Guatemala were “incredible and inconceivable.”

U.S. support for the Arias peace plan has been lukewarm from the start. Washington has said that the Sandinistas could not be trusted to carry out the plan’s most important elements.

The plan called for an end to outside aid to the various rebel groups and a negotiated cease-fire in El Salvador between the U.S.-backed government and Marxist guerrillas and in Nicaragua between the U.S.-financed Contras and the Sandinistas.

It called further for democratization, including freedom of the press and the right of opposing political groups to operate openly and freely.

Unextended Deadlines

The plan began crumbling last January when the Central American presidents failed to extend deadlines for implementation and did away with an international commission that was to monitor compliance. Instead, they said, they would continue trying to find a way toward peace.

Some Central American officials here said the United States has shown more interest in using the peace plan to attack the Sandinistas than in reaching a negotiated settlement.

These officials said that Washington vetoed a meeting by Shultz with the presidents of the five Central American nations, tentatively planned for later this week on the anniversary of the signing of the peace agreement, because of unwillingness by Arias and others to confront President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua.

U.S. diplomatic sources said before Shultz left Washington that he would avoid seeing Ortega in any circumstances in the course of this trip, which continues today in Argentina.

In their Monday declaration, the foreign ministers spoke frequently of the need to establish authentic democratic institutions throughout the region, including political pluralism, freedom of association, a free press, an impartial judicial system that guarantees due process of law and nonpolitical military organizations.

In Managua, Ortega charged that the Reagan Administration was putting “enormous pressure” on its Central American allies “to sign a death sentence against Nicaragua.” But he said he was confident they would reject any joint condemnation of his Sandinista government as a dangerous position that might lead to an escalation of the six-year-old Nicaraguan war.

“The United States is trying to annihilate the Nicaraguan revolution, to lead a war against Nicaragua, even if that means invading us,” Ortega said at a ceremony marking the ninth anniversary of the Sandinista air force.

Times staff writer Richard Boudreaux contributed to this story from Managua, Nicaragua.