Word: ortega
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...Ortega's announcement capped a dramatic week of high-stakes diplomacy that included conciliatory gestures, intransigent demands, petty snubs and perhaps the promise of some real movement. But while talks between the Sandinistas and contras looked more promising, the prospects for talks between Managua's comandantes and U.S. officials remained dim, despite expressions of interest on both sides. Once Wright entered the picture, the bizarre possibility emerged that Ortega might try an end run on the White House and secure congressional approval for his plans through Wright...
Certainly Wright was at the center of the action. Last August the Texas Democrat and President Reagan co-sponsored a peace plan for Central America. Two days later in Guatemala City, five of the region's Presidents, including Ortega, signed a different accord, this one championed by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez. Wright quickly threw his support behind the homegrown pact and invited Arias to address Congress. Since then Wright has repeatedly warned the Reagan Administration that no new funds for military aid to the contras will be approved so long as the peace process remains alive...
...muted furor served Ortega's purposes well. In coming to Washington, his first such visit since 1979, Ortega aimed to promote Nicaragua's peace gestures, pressure Reagan to take steps toward talks and paint the contras as "sons of Reagan." The propaganda strategy was effective. While Ortega actually achieved little beyond handing Obando a cease-fire proposal, which he could have done in Managua, he received considerable attention. The final masterstroke: a tour of the Lincoln and Viet Nam War memorials...
...Ortega and Reagan had begun the week on more equal footing. Like two riverboat gamblers, they had each invited the other to a game of poker, then each tried to fix the rules to his own advantage. The first bid came from Reagan. In a speech to members of the Organization of American States, he said that once the Sandinistas have begun "serious negotiations" with the contras, his Administration would "be ready to meet jointly with the foreign ministers of all five Central American nations, including the Sandinistas' representative." The call for "serious" talks was purposefully vague, and one underlying...
...Ortega, however, appeared to read encouragement into Washington's more conciliatory approach. In a midair interview en route to the OAS meeting, he told the New York Times that if Reagan invited him to talk, Ortega would be willing to have contra leaders at the meeting. For the first time, a Sandinista official was publicly expressing a willingness to meet contra leaders face to face. The Administration rejected the offer, claiming that such an arrangement would devalue the contras' negotiating position...