With characteristically inept timing, President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua has again demonstrated that he can't be trusted.
Or maybe his latest shabby performance should simply be considered a demonstration that he can be trusted to betray reasonable hopes for an honorable, peaceful settlement of the long conflict in Nicaragua.In any event, Ortega chose the recent Latin American summit meeting in Costa Rica to announce the resumption of Sandinista military action against the democratic resistance by the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. What a slap in the face to the Latin leaders who have supported the peace plan of Costa Rica's Oscar Arias based on a cease-fire and free elections scheduled next February.
But then what else but clumsy treachery can the world expect from someone with Ortega's track record? Remember how Ortega chose to go to Moscow and flaunt his communist ties in 1985 only days after the American Congress voted down military aid to the Contras? Remember, too, how Ortega jailed his political opponents last year, again only days after Congress rejected another military aid package for the Contras?
What's Ortega's excuse for his latest perfidy? A claim that the United States is fomenting continued war with aid to the Contras and that the rebels have been violating the 19-month cease-fire.
It's hard to imagine a more feeble alibi. At the insistence of Congress and with President Bush's reluctant acquiescence, U.S. aid to the Contras consists strictly of humanitarian assistance, not military help.
As for truce violations by the Contras, no doubt they are trying to keep things stirred up in Nicaragua so that the United States will keep sending them money. But there are no more than 3,000 of the rebels inside Nicaragua, compared to the 75,000 members of the Sandinista army. Since the cease-fire began, the army. is reported to have conducted what the U.S. State Department calls "aggressive and continuing search-and-destroy operations against resistance forces."
Under the circumstances, Ortega's cancellation of the truce looks suspiciously like the act of a man seeking an excuse for not holding the free elections he had promised next February.
At the very least, Ortega's move gives him an excuse to start beating up and jailing his opponents again and try intimidating other Nicaraguans into voting for him and the Sandinistas.
Such suspicions gain credence from opinion polls showing opposition candidate Violetta Chamorra to be well ahead.
What's to be done in response to Ortega's cancellation of the truce? President Bush could ask for the resumption of military aid to the Contras, but Congress has shown repeatedly that it has no stomach for such toughness.
That leaves only the Organization of American States, which ought to formally condemn Ortega, diplomatically isolate the Sandinista government, seriously consider economic sanctions and insist on adherence to the Arias peace plan.
But then, in view of how Panama's Gen. Manuel Noriega can ignore tough words from the OAS with impunity, that organization might as well not waste its breath on Ortega.