Bush Praises Vote, May Lift Sanctions Soon

President Bush today hailed Violeta Barrios de Chamorro’s upset election in Nicaragua and called for “peaceful transition” to democratic rule.

Administration officials said he will decide swiftly on lifting the economic sanctions that hindered the Sandinista government.

Bush said there is “no reason at all for further military activity from any quarter.” For most of a decade, Contra rebels supported by the United States have waged war against President Daniel Ortega.

Bush spoke as key members of Congress said the United States should anticipate providing substantial economic aid to the new government in Managua.

Secretary of State James A. Baker III embraced Chamorro’s triumph and praised the defeated Nicaraguan president for carrying out a fair election. He said he hoped the election would lead to a national reconciliation.

Said Bush: “For years the people of Nicaragua have suffered. And today the people of Nicaragua have spoken.”

The President said he had talked with Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez about “appropriate trade and economic measures that we can take to support the new government of Nicaragua.”

Bush did not address the issue of sanctions directly. But White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the President will decide “fairly soon” on whether to lift them.

On May 1, 1985, then-President Ronald Reagan ordered a U.S. embargo on all U.S. exports to or imports from Nicaragua; a ban on all flights to and from the United States by Aeronica, the Nicaraguan airline; a ban against Nicaraguan-registered ships from entering U.S. ports, and a termination of the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation with Nicaragua.

Asked whether the sanctions and economic reprisals had been instrumental in forcing Ortega out, as well as the creation of the Contras, Fitzwater said: “We’re hopeful all U.S. actions in recent years have been” helpful, but he added, “The controlling factor was that the Nicaraguan people spoke out very eloquently” in voting for “peace and democracy.”

There were already calls in Congress for Bush to lift the sanctions.

“We must provide her new government with aid, and let’s not kid ourselves. It will take big bucks,” said Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.). “She needs our help, and she deserves it,” he said of Chamorro.

“Nobody said democracy was cheap,” added House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Dante B. Fascell (D-Fla.).