Contras Switch Stance, Agree to Talks in U.S.

Contra leaders said Friday that they have dropped objections to holding a new round of peace talks in Washington with Nicaragua’s Sandinista government and have suggested a Jan. 25 meeting date.

Adolfo Calero said that he and other leaders of the movement, who had refused to hold further talks in either Washington or Managua as demanded by the Sandinistas, made the concession because “the climate for talks has improved.”

He said here that the Nicaraguan rebels are sending a letter to the Foreign Ministry in Managua immediately, suggesting that the meetings be held at the Washington headquarters of the Organization of American States.

Contra negotiators had not wanted to meet in Washington “because we have been too closely identified with the United States, and we didn’t want to give the impression of being a U.S. tool, which we are not,” Calero said.

The Contras had earlier ruled out the Nicaraguan capital on grounds that their safety could not be assured there.

A Contra source said that by selecting the OAS headquarters, the Nicaraguan Resistance, as the rebels’ umbrella organization formally calls itself, selected a site “that is sort of independent of Washington.”

The Contras have not engaged in military operations against the Sandinistas since last March, when the two sides agreed to a temporary cease-fire in their six-year war. Since June, the cease-fire has effectively been extended on a month-to-month basis, and there have been no significant military engagements.

There was no immediate response from the Sandinista government. The Nicaraguan Embassy in Washington was closed Friday for the holiday weekend.

Calero said the Contras suggested Jan. 25 as the date to resume talks because it would be after a summit meeting of Central American presidents scheduled in San Salvador on Jan. 15 and after President-elect George Bush takes office Jan. 20.

Calero told reporters that recent meetings by Central American foreign ministers, together with the forthcoming change in the U.S. Administration have set the stage for a revitalized dialogue.