Reagan, Congress Press Latin Talks : Ortega Insists On Direct Dialogue With President

GUATEMALA CITY —  Nicaragua offered Wednesday to hold an “unconditional dialogue” with the United States on President Reagan’s proposal to end the contra war.

In a written statement read in Managua, the Nicaraguan capital, and later in a national broadcast, President Daniel Ortega insisted on direct bilateral talks as the first step toward a cease-fire in the six-year-old conflict between his Sandinista army and U.S.-backed Nicaraguan rebels.

“The government of Nicaragua invites the government of the United States to immediately initiate negotiations in Washington, Managua or in a third country to have an unconditional dialogue to discuss the said initiative,” he said at a press briefing.

Terms of Reagan Offer

Ortega made the counter-offer hours after Reagan announced a cease-fire plan that would require the Sandinistas to renounce Soviet Bloc military aid, lift a state of emergency, restore some civil liberties and agree to early national elections as conditions for halting U.S. aid to the contras.

Nicaragua has rejected such conditions during eight rounds of previous talks with the United States, which the Reagan Administration suspended in January, 1985. Washington has since insisted that contra leaders be involved in such talks, a position that Managua rejects.

In Washington, Reagan called Wednesday for U.S.-Nicaraguan talks to resume after his proposed cease-fire takes effect. But Ortega said “an unconditional dialogue” should “begin immediately in Managua, Washington or in a third country” to work toward “just and verifiable agreements that guarantee the legitimate interests of the United States and Nicaragua.”

If the United States rejects his offer, Ortega warned, it would “make it evident that what the Reagan Administration is trying to do is block regional efforts to achieve peace.”

The Sandinista leader issued the statement before leaving for Guatemala City to attend a two-day peace summit of the five Central American presidents starting today.

The four U.S. allies involved in the summit--Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador--gave a cautious welcome to Reagan’s plan and said it should be discussed at the summit, along with a Costa Rican peace proposal.

Ortega called the U.S. proposal a ploy to win congressional approval for new contra aid if his government rejects the U.S. conditions.

While the summit represents the region’s most serious effort so far to end the Nicaraguan war, the main item on the agenda, the Costa Rican proposal, was dramatically upstaged by Reagan’s proposal.

The six-month-old Costa Rican plan calls for halting guerrilla conflicts in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. Reagan had previously criticized it as demanding too little of the Sandinista government.

The foreign ministers of Nicaragua and the four other central American nations, who were meeting here to discuss the summit agenda, watched a live telecast of Reagan’s announcement of a plan carrying tougher conditions for Nicaragua and received a Spanish language translation of it from the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City.

Officials of El Salvador and Honduras said later that both the U.S. and Costa Rican plans should be on the summit agenda. But Costa Rican Foreign Minister Rodrigo Madrigal Nieto said his country’s plan would remain the central item and elements of the Reagan proposal could be added to it.

“Costa Rica does not have a monopoly on the truth,” Madrigal added. “I think a lot of points (in the U.S. plan) are acceptable. On the whole, it is a constructive proposition.”

The plan offered by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez calls for cease-fires in Central America’s guerrilla wars and a cutoff of outside aid to insurgent forces, followed by amnesties for rebels and talks between the governments and their unarmed foes.

Countries signing the plan would agree to practice “total political pluralism,” respect human rights and consent to international monitoring of future elections. Complete freedom of press and assembly would have to be permitted within 60 days of signing.

Under the Reagan plan, there would be a cease-fire in Nicaragua, with a suspension of Soviet Bloc aid to the Sandinista army matched by a suspension of U.S. military aid to the contras. Unlike the Arias plan, it would require the Sandinistas to make internal reforms immediately and advance the date of national elections now set for 1990.

Implicit in the U.S. plan are indirect talks between the Sandinistas and contra leaders on truce details. The Arias plan rules out any negotiating role for armed rebels.

The Sandinista government had previously rejected these conditions now being proposed again by Reagan, and had welcomed the Arias plan.

While declining to comment on details of the U.S. plan, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Miguel D’Escoto said: “We are profoundly suspicious of anything to do with President Reagan. . . . But I am still optimistic something can come out of these meetings.”

Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Lopez Contreras firmly endorsed the U.S. plan as “a positive contribution to the negotiating process.”