Way Is Open for Nicaragua to Normalize U.S. Ties, Baker Says

The Bush Administration will end its economic sanctions against Nicaragua and restore friendly relations with the country’s leftist government if it wins genuinely free and fair elections this month and ends its support for Marxist rebels in El Salvador, Secretary of State James A. Baker III said Thursday.

“If we determine that it is free and fair and we determine that they have indeed stopped their support of subversion in neighboring countries . . . then we would be prepared to normalize our relations with that government,” Baker told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Responding to a question from Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), Baker was careful to say Washington is ready for improved relations with “any government” that wins a fair election, holding open the possibility of a victory by U.S.-backed candidate Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.

But Chamorro’s candidacy is apparently sagging badly, and both Dodd’s question and Baker’s answer were based on the premise that President Daniel Ortega would be declared the winner.

Baker said Washington will require convincing evidence that the election was fair--a determination that he said will be difficult to make unless Ortega relents from his refusal to permit a U.S. congressional delegation to observe the voting.

Baker spoke only of actions Washington would take if it determined that the election was fair. A senior Administration official said recently, however, that the United States might make things even more difficult for Nicaragua if the election turned out to have been fraudulent.

“If they want to live with 30,000% inflation, they can do that,” the official said. “If I were sitting down there in their shoes, I’d want those economic sanctions off; I wouldn’t want them tightened. And there are some things that we can do to tighten them.”

During two hours of testimony, Baker also seemed to offer a more hopeful assessment than other Administration officials of South African President Frederik W. de Klerk’s program to reform his white-minority government.

“We follow developments in South Africa with some growing encouragement, because we are beginning to see for the first time some tangible evidence that things are changing,” Baker said. “The De Klerk government has permitted . . . peaceful anti-apartheid demonstrations. It’s freed some leading political prisoners already.”

Responding to reports that Nelson Mandela, the imprisoned leader of the African National Congress, will soon be released, White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said that once Mandela is free, Bush will invite him and De Klerk to the White House to discuss “how the United States can best help South Africa move forward to a non-racial government and society.” Fitzwater said the meetings would be separate.

Meanwhile, the State Department made public details of its budget three days after Bush sent the rest of his budget to Congress.

The Administration is seeking $14.8 billion for foreign aid, $9.7 billion in economic assistance and $5.1 billion in military aid.

As usual, Israel and Egypt are by far the largest recipients, with $3 billion for Israel and $2.26 billion for Egypt. The Administration sought $300 million to assist the reform process in Eastern Europe in addition to about $1 billion promised for Poland and Hungary this year.

The budget includes $500 million in new assistance for Panama.

The budget also calls for $528 million in narcotics-control assistance to Colombia, Bolivia and Peru--an increase of about $230 million over the current fiscal year.