Narrowing the Focus: Contadora and Esquipulas 1986

Abstract

The prospects of a negotiated settlement appeared extremely remote by mid 1985. The bilateral talks held at Manzanillo had been cut off, and Washington had imposed an economic embargo against Nicaragua in early May, declaring a national emergency for the purpose. Mexico thought the embargo was incompatible with the ‘objectives of Contadora’. The United States took a harder line against the Sandinistas, and gave the contras a greater sense of gravity through the President’s description of them as the ‘moral equivalent of the founding fathers’; he stated he wished to see the removal of the Nicaraguan government in its present structure. The Mexican Foreign Minister, Sepulveda, had earlier suggested: ‘Negotiation implies yielding some ground in order to secure the ultimate objective which is considered essential’.¹ Yet there was no room for compromise between the administration’s minimum demands and their ultimate objective.