United States Foreign Relations Nicaragua

The United States is prepared to provide up to $3 million to an international commission to begin planning the voluntary relocation of Nicaraguan Contras to their homeland if democratic conditions exist, it was announced Friday. State Department deputy spokesman Richard Boucher said the funds would be given to a commission composed of United Nations and Organization of American States officials.

Nicaragua will request a condemnation of the United States by the Organization of American States for a search made Dec. 29 of the Nicaraguan ambassador's residence in Panama by U.S. troops, an action described as a "screw-up" by President Bush. Antenor Ferrey, Managua's ambassador in Panama City, who was forced to admit the search party, said in an interview here that he will tell his story to a meeting of the OAS permanent council Monday.

The Organization of American States declared in a resolution Monday night that the entry by U.S. troops into the Nicaraguan ambassador's residence in Panama was a violation of international laws ensuring the immunity of diplomatic missions. The vote was 19-0, with six countries joining the United States in abstaining. U.S. Ambassador Luigi Einaudi acknowledged that the U.S.

President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro has canceled a planned October trip to the United States because of the Persian Gulf crisis, a government spokesman said Thursday.

President Bush announced his intention Friday to nominate veteran diplomat Harry Shlaudeman to be ambassador to Nicaragua. Shlaudeman is a former ambassador to Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Venezuela and also served as special negotiator for Central America under former President Ronald Reagan. The United States and Nicaragua have not had ambassadors in each other's capital since July, 1988.

President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro's new Nicaraguan government signed its first aid package with the United States on Thursday, marking a renewal of U.S. aid suspended in 1981. Under the accord, the United States will donate 55,000 metric tons of corn, vegetable oil and lard for use in making soap. The first shipment of 44,000 tons of corn will arrive here later this month.

Fidel Castro has an important role to play in achieving peace in Central America, and the Cuban leader has been asked to influence Nicaragua to actively rejoin negotiations for a regional settlement, President Oscar Arias Sanchez of Costa Rica said Thursday. Speaking at a news conference, Arias said he held several conversations with the Cuban president while both were in Quito to attend the inauguration of Ecuador's new president, Rodrigo Borja Cevallos.

President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua extended a cease-fire with the Contras for another month and called on the U.S.-backed guerrillas to lay down their arms. In a speech to Latin American legislators meeting in Managua, Ortega also accused the United States of trying to block regional peace efforts and said that Nicaragua's war will continue until the White House changes its policy.

President Daniel Ortega declared Saturday that the Sandinistas "have reached the limits of our flexibility" and will make no concessions to bring about a resumption of peace talks with the Contras. "If everyone is worried about peace, they should go tell the United States: If you want peace in Central America, then stop the war against Nicaragua, and peace will come automatically to the region," Ortega said in a toughly worded lecture to Nicaraguan diplomats gathered in Managua.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz, shifting his focus from the deteriorating Middle East peace process, flies today to Guatemala, where he hopes to rally the fractious leaders of Central America to denounce the Nicaraguan government. "I hate to spend all my time discussing communiques, because there's a lot of work to do, things that people should be taking action on," Shultz said after learning that Guatemala and Costa Rica are withdrawing their support for a U.S.