Shevardnadze in Nicaragua for Talks; Aid Cuts Possible

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze arrived in Nicaragua on Tuesday for a 24-hour visit that may herald a cut in Soviet support for the country.

Shevardnadze, the highest-ranking Soviet official to visit the nation, was greeted by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and top Sandinista officials as he stepped off a Soviet airliner at Managua airport.

He laid a wreath at the tomb of Sandinista guerrilla hero Carlos Fonseca before opening the first of three sessions of talks with Ortega, which Nicaraguan and Soviet officials have said will focus on the Central American peace process and bilateral relations.

“We attach great importance to the talks we will hold here, taking place at this vital stage when a new, peaceful period of the Nicaraguan revolution has just begun,” Shevardnadze told reporters at the airport.

Ortega Cites ‘Struggle for Peace’

“I am convinced that this meeting will strengthen the struggle for peace which the Soviet Union is waging in the international field and we are waging in Central America,” Ortega said.

The leftist Sandinistas have forged close ties with the Soviet Union since taking power in a 1979 revolution.

Despite words of solidarity, some observers say that Shevardnadze may have come to tell Ortega that the Soviet Union, suffering its own economic problems, cannot continue heavy aid flows to Nicaragua.

A Nicaraguan official said Monday that Soviet aid to Nicaragua has totaled nearly $3 billion since 1979.

Opposition leader Alfredo Cesar said that in the new era of better Kremlin relations with the United States, Nicaragua has become a liability to the Soviet Union.

“In my opinion, Shevardnadze has come to deliver that kind of message to Ortega. The Soviet Union is not going to abandon (the Sandinistas), but Nicaragua has to learn to solve its own problems with its neighbors and with the United States,” Cesar, a former leader of U.S.-backed rebels, told reporters.

“I think he’s going to deliver the message that economic aid, starting next year, will come down,” he said.

Nicaragua, struggling against high inflation and severe recession, is dependent on the Soviet Union for oil and many goods. “Shevardnadze comes to Nicaragua with the power to cut the electricity and to cut the fuel which runs our cars with the snap of a finger,” Cesar said.

Shevardnadze will hold more talks with Ortega today before leaving for Cuba in the afternoon.