Taking a Different Tack

By Ed Magnuson

The Administration's plan was cloaked in secrecy, then unwrapped with theatrical effect. On Wednesday, House Republican Leader Robert Michel informed Ronald Reagan that resumption of U.S. military funding for the contras fighting Nicaragua's government was "dead in the water" unless there was a "change in the formulation of policy." The President offered no hint of any new flexibility. But the next morning he dispatched National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane to brief some 20 congressional leaders of both parties in the House Intelligence Committee's bug-proof room high in the Capitol. That afternoon Reagan held a press conference to announce his "proposal for peace in Central America."

The President's plan called for a cease-fire followed by talks between the opposition and the Sandinista government under the auspices of Nicaragua's Roman Catholic bishops. The aim of the negotiations would be to restore democracy, end any efforts by the Sandinistas to export their revolution, remove Soviet-bloc and other foreign military personnel from the country, and reduce Nicaragua's military forces to a level equal to those of the country's neighbors. The President's key point: while the talks are going on, Congress must release the $14 million earmarked for the contras but tied up by the legislators. The Administration would use the money only for "food, clothing and medicine and other support for survival." If there was no progress in the Nicaraguan talks after 60 days, the Administration would be free to spend the money for military support of the contras.

The Administration's plan is similar to one proposed five weeks earlier in San Jose, Costa Rica, by a broad coalition of Nicaraguan opposition figures. This proposal also urged talks mediated by the church. It would have permitted President Daniel Ortega Saavedra to remain in office until new elections were held. The Sandinistas rejected the San Jose proposal. "We will not talk to the dogs, but to the dogs' owners," said one official, maintaining that the contras were controlled by the U.S.

After visiting Reagan at the White House, Colombian President Belisario Betancur, a key figure in the Contadora group (Colombia, Venezuela, Panama and Mexico), which has been pressing for a regional settlement, called Reagan's attitude toward the Nicaragua situation "positive" and "constructive," but carefully avoided any comment on the proposal.

To the Sandinistas, the downside to starting peace talks under the Reagan plan was the resumption of U.S. aid to the contras. If the rebels decided after 60 days that such talks were not going satisfactorily, they could unilaterally begin fighting again without losing the $14 million. In Managua's view, the U.S. "humanitarian" support would let the contras spend more of their own funds on weapons. At week's end, the government formally rejected the plan in a note to Washington. Contended Foreign Minister Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann: "What President Reagan has said is, 'You drop dead, or I will kill you.' "

A top White House adviser conceded that the President's plan was "a new wrapper" for the old aid package, and it was by no means clear whether Congress would accept it. Calling the proposal a "dirty trick," House Speaker Tip O'Neill charged that Reagan was "hoodwinking the American public" with talk of humanitarian aid because the Administration "didn't have the votes" to pass the military funds. But Republican Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the initiative "a + new comprehensive policy" that could provide "a breakthrough" in the congressional debate over contra aid.

The Senate has scheduled its vote for April 23, one week after the Easter recess. The House may decide later in the week. The President plans to apply pressure before the crucial roll calls are taken. He is putting the issue in the starkest possible terms. "If we provide too little help, our choice will be a Communist Central America with Communist subversion spreading southward and northward," he insisted last week. "We face the risk that 100 million people from Panama to our open southern border could come under the control of pro-Soviet regimes and threaten the U.S. with violence, economic chaos and a human tidal wave of refugees."

With reporting by Neil MacNeil and Alessandra Stanley/Washington