Miguel Cardinal Obando Y Bravo

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega sent a letter to Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo criticizing the prelate's suspension of truce talks with the Contras and proposing that they resume Friday in Guatemala. Ortega urged Obando to "seriously contribute" to the peace effort. Responding to the Managua prelate's concern that the two sides were not sending high-level delegations, Ortega also named Vice Defense Minister Joaquin Cuadra Lacayo as the government's chief delegate.

Heeding a face-to-face appeal by Nicaragua's Roman Catholic prelate, Contra leaders agreed Friday to end their war against the Sandinista government and start disbanding their 12,000-member U.S.-backed guerrilla army.

During nearly three hours of peace talks Thursday, Nicaraguan government and rebel negotiators reached an impasse over their sharply divergent cease-fire proposals, then agreed to consider a surprise proposal offered by the mediator, Roman Catholic Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo.

President Daniel Ortega announced Monday that he will ask the National Assembly to pardon all Nicaraguan political prisoners before the Feb. 25 national elections, a move that will free an estimated 1,156 inmates in the next four weeks. The Sandinista leader, who is seeking reelection, called the decision a gesture of reconciliation in response to appeals by the nation's Roman Catholic bishops.

Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo threatened Wednesday to halt his participation in peace talks between the government and U.S.-backed Contras because of "insults" against him by the ruling Sandinista party. In a broadcast Tuesday, Radio Sandino, the official voice of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, accused the Roman Catholic leader of "being the intellectual director of the counterrevolution and therefore responsible for the crimes and assassinations of elderly people and children."

In an impassioned Holy Week appeal, Nicaragua's Roman Catholic primate admonished Sandinista and rebel leaders Thursday not to betray the hopes raised by their preliminary peace accord. "The government and the resistance have given their word before the Nicaraguan people and the world," Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo said. "To break their word would be to lose credibility forever and pass into the darkest pages of history."

The Sandinista government Wednesday dismissed Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo as mediator in the Nicaraguan conflict and offered to meet with rebel leaders for cease-fire talks inside the country. President Daniel Ortega made the surprise announcement after an evening visit to the Roman Catholic leader, who had irritated the government by putting political issues on the agenda in four previous negotiating sessions. The shift in government strategy came on the eve of a vote in the U.S.

A second round of talks aimed at a cease-fire in Nicaragua broke down early today after the rebel delegation refused to meet with two foreign negotiators named by the Sandinista government. Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, the Nicaraguan Roman Catholic leader who is mediating the conflict, met separately with the warring parties and announced that the talks were suspended.

The first face-to-face talks between warring Nicaraguan factions were called off by the Sandinista government hours before they were to start here Monday after House Speaker Jim Wright declined to send four associates to take part. The government urged the Texas Democrat last Friday to send the four Americans as a technical "support team" for Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, the Nicaraguan mediator in the Sandinistas' war with U.S.-backed Contras.

The mediator in the Nicaraguan war, Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, urged both factions Tuesday to make concessions so that their stalled peace talks can quickly resume. The talks broke down Monday night after U.S.-backed Contras declined to meet here with two foreigners named by the Sandinista government as its representatives to arrange a cease-fire. The rebels insisted that a Nicaraguan official also take part, but the government refused.

In a conflict with Nicaragua's Roman Catholic cardinal, the Sandinista government has moved to paralyze two independent groups that monitor its adherence to peace accords with neighboring countries and U.S.-backed rebels. One of the bodies, the National Reconciliation Commission, was set up to oversee Nicaraguan compliance with the five-nation Central American peace agreement of August, 1987.

Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo threatened Wednesday to halt his participation in peace talks between the government and U.S.-backed Contras because of "insults" against him by the ruling Sandinista party. In a broadcast Tuesday, Radio Sandino, the official voice of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, accused the Roman Catholic leader of "being the intellectual director of the counterrevolution and therefore responsible for the crimes and assassinations of elderly people and children."

In an impassioned Holy Week appeal, Nicaragua's Roman Catholic primate admonished Sandinista and rebel leaders Thursday not to betray the hopes raised by their preliminary peace accord. "The government and the resistance have given their word before the Nicaraguan people and the world," Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo said. "To break their word would be to lose credibility forever and pass into the darkest pages of history."

Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo and Joao Baena Soares, the secretary general of the Organization of American States, have accepted invitations to be witnesses at talks between the government and the Contras, the official Voice of Nicaragua radio station said Monday. The agreement appeared to ease the way for truce negotiations starting Wednesday in Sapoa, on the border with Costa Rica. President Daniel Ortega last week said Obando was no longer needed as a mediator in talks with the U.S.

The Sandinista government Wednesday dismissed Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo as mediator in the Nicaraguan conflict and offered to meet with rebel leaders for cease-fire talks inside the country. President Daniel Ortega made the surprise announcement after an evening visit to the Roman Catholic leader, who had irritated the government by putting political issues on the agenda in four previous negotiating sessions. The shift in government strategy came on the eve of a vote in the U.S.

Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo said Sunday that the Sandinista government is blocking his bid to mediate the Nicaraguan conflict by refusing to discuss political issues in the next cease-fire talks. In a homily, the Roman Catholic leader defended his proposal to condition a preliminary 30-day truce on a government amnesty for all political prisoners, full press freedom and a revision of the law obliging young men to serve in the Sandinista army.

The first round of talks aimed at ending the Nicaraguan war reached an impasse Friday after the Sandinista government rejected the mediator's terms for a proposed Christmas truce. The mediator, Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, Roman Catholic primate of Nicaragua, said that government negotiators sought to modify his truce proposal with conditions that were unacceptable to the U.S.-backed Contra movement.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega sent a letter to Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo criticizing the prelate's suspension of truce talks with the Contras and proposing that they resume Friday in Guatemala. Ortega urged Obando to "seriously contribute" to the peace effort. Responding to the Managua prelate's concern that the two sides were not sending high-level delegations, Ortega also named Vice Defense Minister Joaquin Cuadra Lacayo as the government's chief delegate.

Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, Nicaragua's Roman Catholic primate, abruptly suspended the cease-fire talks that he was mediating between representatives of the Managua government and the U.S.-backed Contras here Friday, leaving the future of the negotiations in limbo. The move appeared to take the Sandinistas and Contras by surprise, and both sides immediately lashed out at each other for the collapse of the talks.