No Bush, Ortega Talks at Summit : Hemisphere: Baker says meeting would be inappropriate so long as solemn promises are unfulfilled.

WASHINGTON —  President Bush will not meet Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega at a summit of Western Hemisphere leaders in Costa Rica this weekend, Secretary of State James A. Baker III said today.

“Until he (Ortega) carries out the promises he has made in solemn agreements, we think it would be inappropriate for the President to sit down with him,” Baker said at a White House news briefing.

Baker said he doubts that Bush will refuse to speak to Ortega if spoken to, “but he’s not going to meet with him and he’s not going to be extending any particular courtesies in that direction.”

Bush and Ortega are among 19 heads of state planning to attend the two-day session opening Friday in San Jose and hosted by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez.

During the summit, Bush is scheduled to meet with Violeta Chamorro, Ortega’s principal opponent in Nicaragua’s Feb. 25 presidential election, who will be in San Jose as an observer. The United States openly backs Chamorro’s candidacy.

Baker said a Bush-Ortega meeting would not be appropriate because Washington believes the ruling Sandinista government is violating regional agreements that call for fair and free voting in Nicaragua and bar it from arming leftist rebels in El Salvador.

He said the Bush Administration protested to the Soviet Union today after a Nicaraguan truck loaded with East Bloc weapons for the rebels was intercepted at the Honduran border.

“We’ve had an extended dialogue with the Soviet Union about the importance of using their influence to stop that sort of activity,” Baker said. “The Soviets have told us they are going to use their best efforts to do that.”

Noting that Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze had recently visited Managua, Baker added: “It would appear to me that maybe the Nicaraguans are telling them one thing and doing something else.”

Bush, who is not scheduled to formally address the summit, will spend about 28 hours in Costa Rica and return to Washington early Saturday evening.