Split Healed, Latin Mediation Group Rebounds

CARTAGENA, Colombia —  The so-called Contadora Group, which is mediating negotiations for a peace treaty in Central America, emerged with new strength Tuesday from an internal crisis that had threatened to paralyze its efforts.

A split developed last week between Mexico and the three other members of the group--Colombia, Venezuela and Panama--over a draft resolution submitted to the U.N. General Assembly that contained criticism of new military maneuvers to be carried out by U.S. forces in Honduras.

The resolution was co-sponsored by all four Contadora countries, but Panama, Colombia and Venezuela withdrew their support after Vernon A. Walters, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, objected strongly to its wording.

Mexico protested, and the unity of the Contadora Group as a mediating body was threatened.

When it appeared that the Contadora Group would not take a public stand on the projected U.S. maneuvers in Honduras, Nicaragua also registered objections, saying the maneuvers represent a form of pressure against its government.

With the foreign ministers of 31 Latin American and Caribbean countries gathered here for the 15th General Assembly of the Organization of American States, a solution to the Contadora impasse was worked out by the foreign ministers of Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Uruguay. These countries make up the so-called support group for Contadora.

The foreign ministers of the eight Contadora and support group nations, representing all the major countries of Latin America, agreed to co-sponsor the resolution and denounce the Honduran maneuvers. The agreement led Foreign Minister Simon Alberto Consalvi of Venezuela to comment, “Contadora is back in business.”

Coincident with the reconciliation, Nicaragua announced that it will send Nora Astorga, its deputy minister of foreign affairs, to join the assembly here. Nicaragua had sent a low-level delegation as a sign of its displeasure over the split in Contadora.

Astorga will take part in a meeting today of the Contadora Group and the five Central American countries, which have been wrangling over the text of a peace and security treaty for the region circulated by the Contadora mediators in September.

The support group’s success in overcoming the Contadora crisis reinforces the authority of the mediators at a time when diplomatic observers of the three-year-old Contadora effort were growing doubtful about the future of the regional peace initiative.

Foreign ministers of the support group argued that Contadora has an important role as a buffer against an outbreak of conflict in Central America even if it encounters continuing delays in signing a peace treaty.

Honduran Foreign Minister Edgardo Paz Barnica told the assembly Tuesday that the Contadora effort is “at the point of failure because of the intransigence of Nicaragua” in refusing to sign the draft treaty. He said Honduras is prepared to sign the proposed treaty “right here,” and that El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala are also ready to accept it.

The proposed treaty provides for disarmament and reduction of foreign military advisers in Central America, under international inspection, and commits signatories to maintain democratic forms of government, including guarantees for political dissidents, free trade unions, and an independent press.