Quayle Says Contras Need Proof of Safety Before Disbanding

Leaders of Venezuela and Spain urged Vice President Dan Quayle today to press for rapid disbanding of the Contras, saying Nicaragua’s Sandinista government should be trusted to give up power, U.S. officials said.

Quayle stated the U.S. position that the Contras should disband, but that their security must be ensured first, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In what one official called “kind of a rolling summit on Nicaragua,” Quayle’s talks with Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez came between Perez’s meeting Thursday with incoming Nicaraguan President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro and Saturday’s arrival in Caracas of outgoing President Daniel Ortega.

Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez also met with Quayle and Perez today. He was in Venezuela en route to Chile for Sunday’s Chilean inaugural, which Quayle is also going to attend.