Sandinista Proposal for Rebels Wins Honduras Support

In what could be a breakthrough in Central America’s stalled peace efforts, Honduras gave qualified support Friday to a Nicaraguan government proposal for disarming and resettling idled Nicaraguan rebels who want to leave their military camps in Honduras.

Honduran President Jose Azcona Hoyo gave his response after hearing the proposal from Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and discussing it with Vice President Dan Quayle. Honduran and U.S. officials said the Nicaraguan plan will receive serious attention.

This apparent step toward talks on disbanding the U.S.-backed Contra army was taken as Latin American leaders meeting here pressed Ortega to relax his Sandinista party’s strong grip on a postwar Nicaragua. A final armistice in the Contra war is expected to be the goal of a five-nation Central American summit meeting now set for Feb. 13-14 in San Salvador.

Honduras, a long-compliant U.S. ally and Nicaragua’s northern neighbor, has played host to the Contra army since the CIA assembled it in 1981. After the U.S. Congress cut off their military aid a year ago, about 10,000 rebels have retreated to the Honduran border camps, leaving only a token force to skirmish in Nicaragua.

As one of the Latin American leaders who gathered here Wednesday for Venezuela’s presidential inauguration, Ortega handed Azcona a proposal offering land, jobs and amnesty to Contras who want to lay down their weapons. Nicaragua’s Sandinista government would also release most of its 3,000 or so remaining political prisoners, take other steps toward a freer society and set up a team of Hondurans and Nicaraguans to monitor the homecoming.

‘Extraordinary Problem’

Azcona said he felt obliged to study the proposal because the presence of so many armed Contras in his country is “an extraordinary problem” that could become a “security threat” if, lacking renewed American military aid, they abandon the camps and scatter about the country.

“We can help solve this problem by easing the departure of the Contras from Honduras to third counties that want to receive them. We can collect these Contras’ arms, if that is the decision, and we can ease the departure to Nicaragua of those Contras who accept amnesty in Nicaragua,” Azcona told reporters.

Azcona said he insisted in their meeting that Ortega cannot wait until the rebel army is dissolved before keeping promises about democratic reforms that the Nicaraguan leader made as one of the five signers of a Central American peace accord 18 months ago.

In the meantime, Azcona said, he will support continued non-lethal U.S. aid to the Contras to keep them together.

But twice during his press conference, Azcona said he was “pleased” and “fully satisfied” with Ortega’s promises to reduce the size of the Sandinista army, hold fair elections next year and give freer rein to private enterprise in Nicaragua.

Quayle discussed the plan with Azcona here but declined to comment on it publicly. But he said the Bush Administration is making “no move right now” to rearm the Contras, with the hope that “diplomatic initiatives” can force changes in Nicaragua.

A U.S. official said the Administration “will take a good hard look” at the Ortega plan but may need months to devise a strategy for Central America. “The whole region is more out on its own than ever,” he said.

Ortega beamed as he watched a telecast of Azcona’s remarks from his hotel suite. “I think we have achieved a rapprochement,” he said. “The summit can be fruitful.”

Other Latin American leaders here for the swearing-in of President Carlos Andres Perez told Ortega that he must concede more than amnesty for the summit to succeed. However, none insisted that he resume the direct talks with Contra leaders that were broken off last June.

President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica, author of the 1987 peace accord, challenged Ortega to advance municipal elections now set for November, 1990, into this year and to abolish a censorship law.

Three-Hour Meeting

In an unusual three-hour meeting that ended early Friday, Ortega and Arias debated the Nicaraguan conflict with the Sandinistas’ closest Latin American allies--Cuban President Fidel Castro, Peruvian President Alan Garcia and the new Venezuelan president.

An official who was present said that Castro did little talking, leaving Ortega to defend himself.

For Ortega, said the source, “it was like having your best friends tell you, ‘We respect you, but we think you have to do more.’ They’re telling him this could be his best and last opportunity for peace.”