An Ally Feels Jilted and Wants Some Relief : Honduras: A new president marks a new attitude toward Washington: Get the Contras out and help rebuild for peace.

On Saturday, Honduras will inaugurate a new president, Rafael Leonardo Callejas. The last time there was a presidential inauguration in Honduras, in 1986, I was sitting in a restaurant in a rural village with an army major and a conservative journalist. We were listening to a radio report of the arrival of then-Vice President George Bush at Palmerola, a large U.S. military installation in the heart of the country. From there Bush would be ferried by helicopter to Tegucigalpa for the ceremonies installing Honduras’ new president.

Despite their pro-American predilections, both men were chafing at what they considered an affront to their country’s dignity. Instead of arriving at the capital to be received by Honduran officials, Bush would first be met by U.S. military officials at a base the Honduran government did not (and has yet to) formally recognize.

The incident remains an eloquent metaphor of U.S.-Honduran relations. This weekend, Vice President Dan Quayle will arrive at Palmerola for the inauguration of another president. After four years, the problems straining Washington’s relationship with its key ally in Central America have not been resolved. If anything, the distrust is deeper.

When Bush visited Honduras in January, 1986, Washington’s chief priority in the region was garnering support for the Contras. Honduras obliged, and in return expected a bonanza in U.S. aid. Today Honduras is bankrupt, and while the Contras are now an anachronistic legacy for the Bush Administration, they remain a gaping wound on the Honduran psyche.

Honduran foreign policy, on the other hand, has been showing signs of life. Since reluctantly signing the Esquipulas II accord in August, 1987, Honduras has shown increasing willingness to challenge the United States. Fearing that the United States would abandon the Contras, President Jose Azcona Hoyo pressed ahead with demands to demobilize and resettle them, over the strenuous objections of Washington. To the dismay of both the Reagan and Bush administrations, Azcona has made common cause with the Sandinista government in Nicaragua to dissolve the Contras forever.

At the latest Central American summit meeting, in early December in Costa Rica, the five presidents reiterated their long-standing conviction that the Contras must be disbanded. Their accord called for an immediate end to direct U.S. assistance to the Contras and the reallocation of existing funds for their voluntary resettlement. The presidents added a clause demanding that all outside aid be channeled through a commission of verification established by the United Nations and the Organization of American States.

The Bush Administration, continuing to ignore the wishes of the Central Americans, insisted on maintaining the Contras at least until the Feb. 25 election in Nicaragua. Honduras’ greatest nightmare, which Washington has never tried to dispel, is that the White House will invent some rationale for keeping the 10,000 Contra combatants and their 50,000 family members in Honduras.

Based in a fertile cattle and coffee growing region, the Contras maintain effective sovereignty over a sizable piece of Honduran real estate. Honduran civilians living in the area take orders not from their government but from Contra commanders. Any arrangement allowing the Contras to stay would inevitably lead to a Lebanon-style partitioning of the country.

To add to the Hondurans’ woes, Washington has become tight-fisted with its aid money. As Honduras’ economy teeters on the brink of total collapse, all U.S. aid is being held up, including $70 million in economic support funds for 1989. The reason supposedly is Honduras’ failure at economic reform. Such discipline would have been unthinkable during the heyday of the Contra program, when Honduras received more than $1 billion in aid.

Tensions were aggravated when the party in power in Tegucigalpa accused the Bush Administration of meddling in the latest election by lending its support to the opposition candidate. The prickly character of current relations was evident in Honduras’ refusal to support the Administration’s actions in Panama.

As Vice President Quayle travels to Tegucigalpa for the inauguration of Callejas, he would do well to ponder the consequences of a decade of haughtily treading on Honduran nationalist sensibilities. The past eight years should underscore the folly of pursuing a narrow, self-serving political and security agenda, even in a country that historically has been a staunch ally and friend.

Two years ago Hondurans went on a rampage and burned the U.S. Embassy annex. Despite this outburst, there is a deep reservoir of sympathy for the United States among the Honduran people. President Bush has an excellent opportunity to nurture and deepen that sympathy by demonstrating through action that future policy decisions will be guided by a genuine concern to address Honduran problems. The first place to express that appreciation is to move quickly to comply with the Central American presidents by demobilizing and resettling the Contras--out of Honduras. With the threat of war lifted, Washington can also draw down its military presence and move expeditiously to use its aid to help rebuild confidence in the Honduran economy. These actions will enhance stability, thus ensuring many more years of rapport with the Honduran government--and the Honduran people.