President Bush sat down with Latin American leaders on Friday for a celebration of democracy, but the occasion was marred by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's decision to end a 20-month cease-fire with the Contra rebels.
Bush and Ortega exchanged a "friendly" handshake before joining the other leaders gathered to celebrate a century of democracy in Costa Rica.And Secretary of State James A. Baker said Nicaragua's leftist leader made no mention of his plans during lengthy talks with heads of 16 North and South American countries that focused on drugs, Latin American debt and eagerness to see Panama's Manuel Antonio Noriega removed from power.
"Maybe if he does intend to do that, he was too ashamed to bring it up with the other heads of state in attendance," Baker said. "But certainly it would be a step backward in the peace process."
But in between the closed-door diplomatic sessions and the dinner with fellow leaders, Ortega told a college audience that Contras had committed "savage attacks" against peasants earlier this month in a move to disrupt upcoming elections. He said he had concluded, "the cease-fire could not be maintained . . . we have to guarantee the safety of the Nicaraguan people and the electoral process, which means we have to organize the army better and means it is unacceptable for us to disarm ourselves."
Salvadoran President Alfredo Cristiani said Ortega's decision was a "serious blow to the Central American peace plan; we should all understand that the solution isn't easy."
Ortega's decision spread throughout the delegations as the leaders turned their attention from closed-door diplomacy to an evening of dining and socializing. The two-day Costa Rican conference ends on Saturday with the dedication of a plaza marking a century of democratic government.
Host President Oscar Arias said that three hours of private talks at a resort outside town gave his Latin guests a chance to express "their preoccupations, their worries, their frustrations at their inability to give our people more prosperity, because of debt, because of war, because of an unjust international commercial system."
Baker said the talk turned to the possibility of a drug summit, Panama's Noriega _ not in attendance _ and foreign debt.
Rodrigo Borja, president of Ecuador, said the leaders discussed the decline in coffee prices that has affected his country, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador and Costa Rica, among others.
But whatever diplomacy there was, the attention was on Bush and Ortega _ one the head of a government that has spent millions trying to unhorse the other.
"I'm not going to miss this," said Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez, leaning in to catch the small talk that Bush and Ortega exchanged when they shook hands before the first session.
"I told President Bush that my government supports the electoral process and that we are working for peace in Nicaragua," Ortega told reporters afterward.
Bush arrived in this capital to cheers when he declared, "I believe we can create here in the Americas the world's first completely democratic hemisphere."
An extraordinary security force _ 4,000 strong _ was deployed to protect the leaders at the two-day "celebration of democracy" arranged by Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner for his efforts to promote democracy in the region.
"We must do away with all the dictatorships in America because there will be no peace among us while even one of them remains," Arias said in welcoming remarks.
"There can be no tranquillity for our people when one government lends itself to hiding corruption and distributing drugs," he said in an apparent reference to Panama's Noriega.
Baker said Salvadoran President Cristiani appealed directly to Ortega to stop shipping arms to rebels in El Salvador, but the Nicaraguan president gave no reply.
Ortega said 17 or 18 Sandinista soldiers were killed in an attack by Contra rebels last week, Baker said.
However, Baker made clear that the United States does not regard the reported killings as justification for abandoning the cease-fire. "There have been deaths on both sides as the result of skirmishes," Baker said.
He said ending the cease-fire "could be seized upon as a desperate effort to cancel the elections" scheduled for Feb. 25 in Nicaragua.
Other leaders here, in addition to Bush, Arias, Ortega and Cristiani, are Michael Manley of Jamaica, Brian Mulroney of Canada, Jose Sarney of Brazil, Jose Azcona Hoyo of Honduras, Carlos Saul Menem of Argentina, Carlos Andres Perez of Venezuela, Julio Maria Sanguinetti of Uruguay, George Price of Belize, Rodrigo Borja of Ecuador, Desmond Hoyte of Guyana, Arthur Robinson of Trinidad and Tobago, and Rafael Hernandez Colon, governor of Puerto Rico.
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Canada seeks OAS seat
Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announced Friday his government had applied to join the Organization of American States.
"Our government has concluded that the time has come for Canada to occupy the vacant chair at the Organization of American States that has been reserved for us for all these years," Mulroney told the inaugural ceremony of the two-day Pan American summit at San Jose, Costa Rica.
Canada until now has preferred to maintain an independent policy toward Latin America.