Mexico’s Offer Deserves a Yes

An already fragile peace plan for Central America is in danger of unraveling altogether with the renewed fighting in both El Salvador and Nicaragua. But Mexico’s President Carlos Salinas de Gortari has made a potentially important offer to the region’s presidents that everyone who cares about peace in that war-torn area, including the United States, should support.

Late last week Salinas sent a personal letter to his five fellow presidents in Central America offering to host a summit meeting to renew the diplomatic dialogue begun at previous regional summits--in 1986 at Esquipulas, Guatemala, and earlier this year at Tela, Honduras. A third Central American summit meeting had been planned for this week in Managua, but was canceled after El Salvador broke diplomatic relations with Nicaragua and accused the Sandinistas of supplying anti-aircraft missiles and other weapons to the rebels fighting the government of Salvadoran President Alfredo Cristiani.

Ideally, Central America’s crisis could be settled among the Central Americans themselves. One of the strengths of the peace process begun by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, which until recently seemed to be moving along well, if not always smoothly, is that it originated in the region itself. But with the feelings of anger and mistrust now running so high in Central America, it may be necessary for outsiders to act as intermediaries if the peace process is to get back on track. Salinas is the first Latin American leader to offer to host another summit meeting, although he is certainly not the only one who could pull it off. Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez is also on good terms with the Central Americans.

But who calls the next summit meeting is less important than making it a reality, and for now Salinas’ is the only offer on the table. It deserves a quick affirmative reply from all five Central American presidents.

Salinas’ invitation is timely in more ways than one. On Sunday, an advance party of military and civilian observers representing the United Nations is due in Honduras to start setting up the headquarters for what will eventually be a 625-member U.N. peacekeeping force in Central America. This will be the first major U.N. operation in the Western Hemisphere, and if everyone cooperates, the force could play an important role in keeping the warring factions apart in both El Salvador and Nicaragua.

That won’t happen unless the Central Americans at least start talking to each other again, and Salinas should take all reasonable measures to persuade them to do so.