Can’t Disband Contras Yet, Arias Insists

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez, supporting the Bush Administration on a key issue in the Central American peace process, said Tuesday that the Nicaraguan rebels should not be required to disband until Nicaragua institutes democratic reforms.

Arias, the author of a widely acclaimed peace plan for the region, repeated his endorsement of President Bush’s new policy on Nicaragua and, in a statement that clearly delighted Administration officials, added that he supports U.S. non-military aid to the Contras.

“You cannot persuade the Contras to go back to Nicaragua . . . if there is no freedom, if there is no democracy, if they cannot integrate into political life,” he told reporters. The disarmament of the Contras and democracy in Nicaragua, he said, “should be simultaneous.”

In their current peace plan, signed in February, the presidents of Central America’s five countries agreed to devise a relocation plan for the Contras by May 15. Nicaragua’s leftist regime has argued that the pact means the rebels should be disarmed immediately, but the United States has insisted that the Contras should remain in place to pressure the Managua government toward more democracy.

Arias’ endorsement of the U.S. policy, first expressed late last month, reflected a shift in his own previous positions. As recently as February, Arias had opposed publicly U.S. aid to the Contras unless it was for the purpose of relocating the rebels.

“Now people here can talk with one single voice,” Arias said of the U.S. plan. “I think, this time, they are, indeed, in good faith trying to support the efforts of the five Central American presidents to reach democracy and peace at the negotiating table.

“We have always agreed with humanitarian aid for the Contras,” Arias added. “I think those people need some support.” He said that he sees “no contradiction” between pushing to disarm the Contras and maintaining them until Nicaragua becomes more democratic.

Weeks of Negotiations

In their accord, reached after weeks of negotiations on Capitol Hill, Bush and the congressional leaders agreed to continue non-military aid to the estimated 12,000 Contras while the Administration presses for a peaceful, diplomatic solution to Nicaragua’s eight-year war. The pact ended years of hostility over the issue between Congress and the White House, dating from President Ronald Reagan’s attempts to overthrow the Nicaraguan regime.

The Administration plans to send a formal request to Congress this week for $45 million in new aid for the Contras, to run through Nicaragua’s planned presidential election next February, officials said.

White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater hailed Arias’ statements. “Oscar Arias is a very valued leader of Costa Rica and has been an important part of the peace process all along,” he said. “We look to him for leadership as we try to apply diplomatic pressures to Nicaragua to live up to its promises. We think he is a very valuable ally to have.”

That, too, was a contrast from the Reagan years, when some senior officials criticized Arias, a Nobel laureate for his peace plan, for standing in the way of U.S. policy.

Arias also appealed to the Soviet Union and Cuba to help Central American peace efforts by halting Cuban aid to leftist guerrillas in El Salvador.

“War has taught us . . . that violence is not the solution,” he said. “I think we have learned that we must change bullets for ballots, and we cannot do this without the support of Cuba and the Soviet Union.”

However, the Costa Rican president did not ask for an end to Soviet and Cuban aid to the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. In a letter last week, Bush asked Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev to halt his military aid to the Sandinistas and to persuade Cuban President Fidel Castro to join him.