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Contadora: The Failure of Diplomacy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Bruce Michael Bagley
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Extract

By Mid-1986, The Contadora Group's search for a negotiated peace in Central America had reached a seemingly insurmountable impasse. Negotiations were deadlocked over the issues of arms limitations, democratization, and US support for the Nicaraguan counter-revolutionaries (contrarevolucionarios or contras). The United States and its closest Central American allies - Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador - demanded that Nicaragua reduce the size of its armed forces and install a democratic political system before they would end support for the contras Nicaragua's Sandinistas, in turn, refused to disarm until the United States and its Central American neighbors halted their support for the contras, they also rejected all proposals for direct negotiations with the contras.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , Fall 1986 , pp. 1 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1986

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