Ortega Delays Decision on Nicaragua Cease-Fire

President Daniel Ortega postponed until today a decision on whether to end a 19-month-old truce with the U.S.-backed Contras, a government official said Tuesday.

A spokesman at the president’s office said an evening news conference to announce a decision was put off because Ortega was still meeting with senior Defense and Interior Ministry officials, “and this meeting will last a long time.”

Ortega disrupted a summit last week by threatening to end the 19-month-old truce with the Contras. He cited rebel attacks as a major reason.

In Washington, President Bush said at a press conference that he will review U.S. policy toward Nicaragua, including the possibility of renewing military aid to the Contras, if Ortega calls off the cease-fire.

Bush also renewed his criticism of Ortega for suggesting at the summit conference last weekend in Costa Rica that he might respond to Contra military attacks by suspending the truce.

“I’ve never seen a meeting where all the participants were so unanimously against all the outrages of one. And we’re still getting messages in here about the outrageous performance of Daniel Ortega,” Bush said.

Asked whether he might consider asking Congress for a resumption of military aid to the Contras if Ortega calls off the truce, Bush said, “I would re-evaluate this situation in a minute if the cease-fire is broken.”

In Managua, presidential spokeswoman Maria Antonia Cuadra said Ortega would probably make his truce announcement from San Miguelito, a town where five civilians were killed in a Contra raid on a farm cooperative late Monday, according to the government. Ortega flew to the site Tuesday.

John Leonard, the U.S. charge d’affairs, was invited to accompany Ortega to the site, but Leonard sent embassy political adviser Valentin Martinez instead.

The leftist Sandinista government and Contra leaders agreed to a truce in March, 1988. Nicaragua has extended it on a monthly basis since, but some fighting has continued. The latest extension expired Tuesday.

On Friday, Ortega told a meeting of 17 Western hemisphere leaders in San Jose, Costa Rica, that he would end the truce. The heads of state, including Bush, had assembled to honor the 100th anniversary of Costa Rican democracy.

Ortega said his decision was prompted by increasing Contra attacks in the past three weeks and a rebel ambush earlier in the week that killed 18 soldiers. Many Contra fighters have moved to Nicaragua from camps in Honduras since a Central American peace agreement was signed in August.

Reaction in San Jose was so negative that Ortega backed off and said there were ways the truce could be extended. He left the meeting abruptly on Saturday.

After Ortega’s announcement, Bush called him “a little man” and an “unwanted animal at a garden party.”