Word: panama
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...keep speaking. "These talks possibly alleviated U.S.-Nicaraguan distrust," said Shultz. "But trust is something you build up over time." The Secretary of State also insisted that his trip was not an independent negotiating bid, but an expression of support for the Contadora group (Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Panama), which has been trying to reach a diplomatic solution to the region's conflicts. The Shultz trip not only undercut critics who complain of Reagan's militaristic approach to the area's problems, but was a welcome change of tactics. For the first time, the Administration opened...
...before Mexico's President assured Congress that "dialogue and a negotiated solution are possible" in Central America, two of the region's nations announced that they had arrived at exactly that kind of arrangement. After a daylong meeting in Panama City, Costa Rica and Nicaragua signed an agreement allowing multinational inspection teams along their 192-mile border. The accord was a concrete step toward ending tension that began when Nicaragua attacked U.S.-backed contra guerrillas who operate from Costa Rica...
...Panama City agreement was signed at a meeting of the Contadora group, composed of representatives of Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Panama. The signing, said Costa Rican Foreign Minister Carlos José Gutiérrez, "confirms the thesis that the Contadora process is a genuine and viable forum toward a peace settlement and brings confidence we will succeed in a short time." He referred to the process begun in January 1983 when representatives of the four countries met at the Panamanian resort island of Contadora to search for a peaceful solution to the Central American crisis through indirect diplomacy...
...pledged to seek, among other things, "effective control of the [regional] arms race, the withdrawal of foreign advisers ... and the prohibition of the use of the territory of one state to plan military or political activities that will cause instability in other states." Meeting at the National Bank of Panama building in Panama City last September, the group got all the countries involved to endorse a list of 20 objectives that address the major political and military concerns in the area. Among them: withdrawal of all foreign military advisers and bases; a scaling down of national armed forces; a commitment...
Another cause for delay is that the Nicaraguans depend heavily upon Cuban diplomats for guidance. U.S. officials say that at recent Contadora sessions, the Nicaraguans and Cubans have occupied adjoining hotel suites. Last week's Panama City agreement was announced only after the Sandinista Foreign Minister, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, met quietly with Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada. The U.S. maintains its own discreet channels of influence with Contadora through the Administration's special presidential envoy for Central America, Harry Shlaudeman, a veteran Foreign Service officer who was executive director of the Kissinger Commission...