Quayle Assails Carter’s Ortega Talk and Takes a Jab at Reagan

CARACAS, Venezuela —  Vice President Dan Quayle today criticized former President Jimmy Carter for holding discussions with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, saying “it has a chance of complicating matters.”

He also took a back-handed jab at former President Ronald Reagan, indicating he occasionally used excuses to duck out of talking with reporters.

Noting that the United States refuses to talk with Ortega, Quayle said:

“Obviously, when you have a former President meeting with heads of state we don’t meet with, it has a chance of complicating matters,” he told reporters following the inauguration of Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez.

U.S. Ambassador Otto Reich said Quayle, midway through a three-day visit to Latin America, would not meet here with Ortega. The Nicaraguan leader shared a peace proposal in a meeting Wednesday with Carter and Perez.

Reich said Quayle had no plans to meet with Carter, although the two did speak briefly Wednesday night at a reception.

Quayle and the U.S. delegation are trying to learn more about the peace proposal Ortega brought with him to Caracas.

Asked if he had talked to President Bush since arriving here Wednesday, Quayle noted that Bush had a cold and laryngitis. “Reagan used to use that (as an excuse) not to have press conferences, but it won’t be in this Administration,” he said.