ACCESSION NUMBER:308197

FILE ID:LEF207

DATE:10/19/93

TITLE:NICARAGUAN CALLS FOR AID, AND TIME, TO HEAL WOUNDS (10/19/93)

TEXT:*93101907.LEF

*LEF207   10/19/93



NICARAGUAN CALLS FOR AID, AND TIME, TO HEAL WOUNDS

(Pallais urges international donors to be patient) dc (490)

(With Lsi209 of 10/19/93)

By Daniel Cento

USIA Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- Nicaragua is in urgent need of foreign aid, but international

donors must allow more time for the government's policy of national

reconciliation to show results, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Jose

Pallais.



At an Oct. 19 news conference at the Nicaraguan Embassy here, he cited

Nicaragua's long list of political, economic, and social problems.

Nicaragua, Pallais said, faces the highest foreign debt per capita of any

country in the world, terrorism, insurrection by former combatants in the

civil war, and a host of other crises that merit patience from the

international community.



The government of President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro is making

appropriate reforms but "the government can't do everything by itself.  We

need the participation of all Nicaraguans and this, perhaps, is the most

difficult challenge we have before us."



Pallais cited Chamorro's Sept. 2 announcement of her intention to bring the

military under civilian control, the Oct. 15 creation of a new Bureau of

Intelligence Affairs under the Ministry of the Presidency, reforms to

create a free-market economy, and changes that will make the national

police more responsive to the public.



But the institutionalization of these reforms will take time, he said.

"In our country, we don't have an established tradition of working together

for the good of our country," Pallais said with some frustration.  "We have

had a tradition of total confrontation for more than 100 years....  Our

task of national reconciliation through dialogue is costing a lot, despite

our efforts."



Nicaragua's ambassador to the United States, Roberto Mayorga, added that

without the rapid disbursement of $40 million from the U.S. Agency for

1nternational Development (AID), economic reform plans could be

"endangered."



Nicaragua is also seeking the payment of another $25 million in aid already

promised by the Inter-American Development Bank and $25 million from the

World Bank.



The disbursement of these $90 million has been held up pending "structural

reform," which is underway in Nicaragua, said Pallais.



"For the first time, (opposing) groups are sitting face to face discussing

their political differences" bilaterally, he said.  Trilateral negotiations

-- a move that would encourage foreign aid --  among the government, the

Sandinistas, and the United Nicaraguan Opposition (UNO) which once

supported but has since broken with Chamorro can be expected, according to

Pallais.



"We recognize that the government has a lot more to do and contribute to ...

this ideal (of national reconciliation) that President Chamorro is strongly

committed to," he added.



Mayorga asked international financial institutions, especially the IDB,

World Bank, and International Monetary Fund, to be "more flexible" with

Nicaragua.



We want a "workable" agreement, he said, emphasizing the "enormous

difficulty of achieving consensus in Nicaragua...  Political positions all

too often supersede the needs" of the country.



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