TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/082189/08218900.023

Text File | 1990-09-22 | 4KB | 70 lines

WORLD, Page  32

CENTRAL AMERICAThe "Disposal Problem"Five Presidents tell the contras to disband,

but will they go?


    The symbolism was as inescapable as the irony. When the five
Central American Presidents gathered last week in the resort town
of Tela in northern Honduras, their meeting place was a seaside
compound once owned by the United Fruit Co., the U.S. multinational
concern that long represented the essence of gringo imperialism in
the region. There, the Presidents* negotiated the dissolution of
the Nicaraguan contras, a force that to many Central Americans
symbolized U.S. arrogance and interference during the 1980s. When
the Presidents emerged from three days of deliberations, they had
signed an agreement on a specific series of steps to demobilize the
contras within the next four months.

    The so-called Tela Declaration was a gesture that carried all
the moral authority of the region's leaders but none of the
military force that might be needed to make it stick. Its
realization hinges on the "voluntary" cooperation of the contras
and assigns responsibility for implementation to the United Nations
and the Organization of American States.

    Still, the latest attempt to end the eight-year war in
Nicaragua was a rebuff to the U.S., which has supported and guided
the contra effort since its inception in 1981. Right up to the last
minute, the Bush Administration lobbied regional leaders to
postpone demobilization until after the Nicaraguan election,
scheduled for Feb. 25, to give the Sandinista regime at least some
incentive to uphold its pledges for a free and fair vote.

    But as the contra war winds down to a whimper, so too does a
U.S. policy that preoccupied the Reagan Administration through two
terms. The seeds of disengagement were sown last April, when
President Bush secured $49.75 million in nonlethal aid for the
contras in exchange for a guarantee that Congress could review --
and sever -- the aid package this November. Since many in Congress
support the Central American leaders' desire to disband the
contras, the Bush Administration seemed to capitulate without a
fight. "Our intention is to play it straight and stick with the
((peace)) process," said a State Department official. "We're not
going to stand in the way."

    If enforced, the demobilization scheme will complete the
gradual mutation of the contras from a military threat to a
political force to a refugee remnant that U.S. officials have
dubbed the "disposal problem." The Tela plan invites contras and
their families to return to Nicaragua from their bases in Honduras
but offers the option of resettlement in other countries. Honduras
desperately wants the contras to go elsewhere, and Nicaragua has
offered to repatriate them safely. But if the contras do not trust
such Sandinista promises, the U.S. will face the painful question
of its responsibilities toward the rebel force it created.

    Much to the dismay of the contras, the demobilization plan
enjoys the support of Nicaragua's 20 opposition parties. To ensure
their cooperation, President Daniel Ortega Saavedra pledged to
suspend Nicaragua's military draft until after the election, to
hold fair balloting and to grant opposition candidates free
television time. But the U.S. remains skeptical that the election
will really prove free or fair, and last week's agreement provides
no penalties whatsoever should Ortega renege on his pledges.

    Despite the Tela plan's promise, few observers are ready to
pronounce the contras dead. Such pronouncements have been issued
before. And the rebels made it plain last week that unless the
Sandinistas agreed to negotiate with them as equal partners, they
had no intention of disarming. If the contras fail to lay down
their rifles voluntarily, no one is offering to take the weapons
by force.