The U.S. and the Contadora Effort for Central American Peace

Publication Date: August 1984

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Virginia Polk

Research Area: International relations

Keywords: Latin American

Type: Report

Abstract:

The U.S. should continue to lend its firm support to these efforts to bring lasting peace to Central America. Its support for the Contadora process should also continue to stress the central importance of free and open elections in Nicaragua and of realistic verification measures to monitor compliance with the terms of the peace treaty. A regional peace agreement that does not include these realistic conditions will be merely a truce that confirms the status quo in the region. Diplomatic legerdemain cannot substitute for concrete measures that give substance to the peace agreement.