Word: ortega
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MANAGUA, Nicaragua--While the Contras said yesterday during a unilateral cease-fire they would stop fighting, President Daniel Ortega rejected their offer, saying it would not stop the United States from aiding the rebels...
...Ortega struck back in his address before the 31-nation OAS. He indulged in a hefty dose of eye-glazing anti-Reagan rhetoric, charging that the President was reneging on a promise made in the Reagan-Wright plan to open a "direct dialogue, government to government," once the Sandinistas initiated contacts with the the contra leadership. In fact, only an early draft called for bilateral negotiations; the final version insisted on regional talks...
Given the bad feelings between Reagan and Ortega, easy concessions are not expected. "These people are in a war of propaganda," says a Honduran , official. "Neither side wants to be the one to give in." Still, the debate over bilateral or multilateral talks is more than mere posturing. The Sandinistas, who know that renewed bilateral talks will lend their regime prestige, argue that until the U.S. forthrightly announces its support for the Guatemala plan, it is not entitled to participate in regional negotiations. "Why should we let Reagan take part?" asks Nicaragua's Foreign Minister Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann...
Once Sandinista-contra talks get under way, they could stumble on any number of points. Ortega has stated plainly that there will be no political negotiations. But the contras are already hinting at some measure of power sharing. Among the demands they floated last week: that the Sandinistas should disband their nine-member directorate, and that the contras should be granted control of the territory they now hold. The contras still hope to negotiate their demands face to face with the Sandinistas rather than through an intermediary. Yet as of last week that scenario looked unlikely. When a Sandinista group...
Nicaragua' s Ortega storms Capitol Hill with a new cease- fire plan, capping a week of diplomacy orchestrated by House Speaker Jim Wright. -- After a groveling mea culpa, Moscow Party Chief Boris Yeltsin is fired. -- Syria' s Hafez Assad rejoins Arab ranks. -- Cory Aquino is losing support as the Philippines slides into chaos...