Arias Attacks Sandinistas as ‘Bad Guys’

President Oscar Arias Sanchez said Thursday that the Sandinista rulers in Nicaragua are “bad guys” who have “unmasked themselves” as anti-democratic and deserve to be punished for breaking the Central American peace agreement.

In his harshest criticism of the Sandinistas, the author of the peace accord said he was prepared to urge non-military pressures on them to resume peace talks with U.S.-backed Contras and end political repression. He did not spell out any proposed sanctions.

At the same time, Arias warned the United States that a renewal of military aid to the rebels, an option now before Congress, would backfire by making Managua’s revolutionary leadership “more totalitarian, more tyrannical, more dictatorial.”

Contras ‘No Alternative’

“If that’s what you want in Nicaragua, just vote more military aid to the Contras,” Arias told a group of American reporters in his office. “I keep insisting that the Contras are no alternative. They are not part of the solution. They are part of the problem.”

Arias gave a bleak assessment of the peace accord that was signed a year ago Sunday and for which he later won the Nobel Peace Prize. Signed by Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, the accord calls for negotiated cease-fires, an end of outside aid to insurgents and specific steps toward democracy, including press freedom, amnesty for political offenses and the right of dissident groups to operate openly.

Calling Central America “a mess,” Arias noted that peace talks inspired by the agreement in each of the region’s guerrilla wars had collapsed. But he insisted that the accord is still viable.

“We are not happy with what we have achieved, but the alternative is not more war,” he said. “Sooner or later there will be peace in the region. All I can ask (of the United States) is to be patient.”

Arias blamed continuing war in El Salvador and Guatemala on Soviet Bloc support for guerrillas there. The Sandinistas were the only government he singled out for criticism.

Peace talks in Nicaragua broke down June 9, and an informal truce has been increasingly violated. Last month, the Sandinista police broke up a legal protest and sentenced 35 participants to jail. Three opposition press outlets were shut, the U.S. ambassador and seven other American diplomats were expelled and the country’s largest private business was confiscated.

Opposition March Barred

On Wednesday, the Sandinistas refused permission for an opposition labor march in Managua to mark the anniversary of the peace accord.

Arias called the Sandinista crackdown “a major sin” against the accord and said “it is time to rally some support to put pressure on those who fail to comply.”

Before doing that, he said, he plans to meet in Ecuador next week with other Central American presidents, including Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, who will attend the inauguration of Ecuadorean President Rodrigo Borja.

The Costa Rican leader had criticized the Sandinista crackdown earlier but not in such strong terms and without any mention of sanctions.

His remarks came as U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz continued a diplomatic offensive in Latin America, seeking to isolate the Sandinistas.

On Monday, Shultz met with foreign ministers of Nicaragua’s four neighbors but failed to get them to condemn the Sandinistas, who were excluded from the meeting. Costa Rica and Guatemala blocked his initiative, which Arias said would have undermined the ideal that Central Americans tackle their own problems.

But Arias’ remarks Thursday indicated a willingness to work indirectly with Shultz to change the Sandinistas’ course.

“I told Mr. Shultz that the Sandinistas today are bad guys, and you are good guys, that they have unmasked themselves, that they are proving to the world that they were not honest when they committed themselves to democratize,” Arias said. “On the contrary, they have sent to jail people who have disagreed with them. This is not justifiable. It shows they fear democracy and freedom more than they fear war.”

Sees Support for U.S.

Arias said he also told Shultz, in their meeting here last month, that the Americans “have the support of many countries all over the world because they have chosen the diplomatic track. But if they go back to aiding the Contras, they will be isolated again.”

In Washington, Senate Republicans and Democrats said they are nearing agreement on a plan to provide an additional $27 million in non-lethal aid to the Contras, while deferring consideration of a proposal to provide $16 million in military aid until President Reagan certifies that the Sandinistas are impeding the peace process. Congress cut off military aid in February.

Arias said he does not oppose non-lethal assistance to the Contras. He said food deliveries are needed to keep the Contra army from disintegrating and creating a refugee problem in Costa Rica and Honduras, Nicaragua’s neighbors, before an armistice is signed.

In Managua, Ortega threatened Thursday night to launch an all-out military drive against the Contras if Congress gives them more military aid.