S/PV.2513 Security Council

I should like at the outset of this meeting to express thanks, on behalf of the members of the Council, to Mr. Javier Chamorro Mora, representative of Nicaragua, for his service as President of the Council during the month of January. Mr. Chamorro Mora earned our deep appreciation for the great diplomatic skill, tact and courtesy with which he guided the Council’s work last month. Adoption of the agenda The agenda was adopted. Letter dated 3 February 1984 from the Charge d’Affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Nicaragua to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/16306)

I should like to inform members of the Council that I have received a letter from the representative of Honduras in which he requests to be invited to participate in the discussion of the item on the Council’s agenda. In conformity with the usual practice, I propose, with the consent of the Council, to invite that representative to participate in the discussion without the right to vote, in conformity with the relevant provisions of the Charter and rule 37 of the provisional rules of procedure. At the invitation of the President, Mr. Herrera Cdceres (Honduras) took a place at the Council table.

The Council is meeting today in response to the request contained in the letter dated 3 February 1984 from the representative of Nicaragua to the President of the Security Council (S/16306). I should also like to draw the attention of members of the Council to document S/16307, which also contains the text of a letter dated 3 February from the representative of Nicaragua to the President of the Security Council. 4. Mr. ICAZA GALLARD (Nicaragua) [interpretationfiom Spanish]: First, Sir, I should like to express to you my delegation’s warmest congratulations on your assumption of the presidency of the Security Council and our gratitude for having responded so swiftly to Nicaragua’s request to convene this meeting immediately. We would not have wished to be the ones to convene the Council and to impose additional duties on your presidency, but the situation demands it. We again face very dangerous events, clearly aimed at bringing about a war of destruction in the Central American region. It is public knowledge that my country and the people of Nicaragua have been the victims of frantic efforts to destroy their freedom and their right to selfdetermination, although the other peoples of Central America have not been spared the scourge of intervention or of irresponsible and thoughtless policies. 5. Today we have come to the Security Council greatly alarmed by events that severely threaten peace and security in the region. Indeed, qualitatively, they are perhaps the most serious that have occurred over the past two years. As the Co-ordinator of the Governing Junta of National Reconstruction, Commander Daniel Ortega Saavedra, has said, these could be the precursors of a war between Honduras and Nicaragua provoked by the United States to justify intervention. 6. Yesterday at 5.30 in the afternoon six military aircraft of the fighter-bomber and push-and-pull type, painted olive drab, flying from Honduras, penetrated Nicaraguan airspace, proceeding to the town of El Viejo in the northeastern department of Chinandega and then towards the Casitas volcano, where they attacked a military unit of the Sandinist People’s Army and a civilian communications centre. The attack was repulsed by anti-aircraft fire, and the attacking aircraft withdrew towards Honduran territory through the sector of Cinco Pinos, in the same department. As a result of this attack three soldiers of the Sandinist People’s Army-Hal Rodriguez, Roger Ovando and Danilo Valladares-were killed, and the following soldiers were wounded: Bernabe Sanchez, Marcos Huete, Rodolfo Lazo and Roberto Cruz. 8. The Government of Nicaragua has lodged a vigorous formal protest with the Government of Honduras because of its clear complicity with and participation in these acts. This protest can be added without further comment to the already long chain of complaints about acts of aggression against Nicaragua, which in terms of violations of Nicaraguan airspace in 1983 totalled more than 620 by United States radio-electronic and photographic surveillance aircraft, with more than 400 helicopters and aircraft flying from Honduran soil, on one of which missions an American pilot was killed. There were also 19 air attacks during the same year. However, the most recent attacks represent a great qualitative leap in the type of war machine used against our country. We do not hesitate to describe the events of the past 24 hours as the greatest threat to peace and security in the region in the past two years, because this is the first time warplanes have been used to continue the chain of acts of aggression against Nicaragua. These events represent a serious escalation of the military actions and provocations against our country, and therefore against peace. : 9. The countries of Central America know very well that the aircraft concerned are of the type used by the Honduran Air Force. We are dealing now not simply with border actions against civilian targets and innocent citizens, but with actions against Nicaraguan military units deep inside our territory, carried out not only,by armed civil aircraft on isolated occasions but by a group of war-planes. The fact that this,type of action originated from Honduran territory is extremely serious and adds a qualitatively more dangerous and explosive dimension to the already existing conflict situation in Central America. 10. The responsibility for and the consequences of these events rest inevitably on those who have financed, organized and encouraged this chain of acts of aggression and provocation. It is not necessary to advance proof .of the criminal participation of the Central Intelligence Agency in the increasingly open operations being carried out against my country. Hence, one must recall something which is equally well known: the commitment entered into with the criminal Somozist Guards, who are shamelessly called champions of freedom. Similarly, one must recall public statements by high American officials to the effect that there will be no stability in Central America so long as the Sandinist revolution exists. 11. Throughout .I983 our people and Government heroically resisted and defeated the offensives carried out by the counter-revolutionary forces operating from Honduras; we frustrated the latest attack early in December’,1983. It is .ciear that in the face of these de- 13. The Chief of the Honduran armed forces, General Gustav0 Alvarez Martinez, on 31 January last stated that the latest stage of the Big Pine II&~ilitary manoeuvres included simulated war againsf,a neighbouring country. This stage was carried out with the participation of 7,000 military personnel, including 1,000 American soldiers and five battalions and combat-support units backed up by American and Honduran air forces. That same Chief of the Honduran armed forces, who is known for his irrepressible hatred for ‘Nicaragua and meek submission to American desigris,.on 18 December declared, “War with Nicaragua is an option to consider in order to resolve the crisis.” While.Alvarez-in the role of spokesman for the United Stat&and of announcer of the military manoeuvres-was’ announcing the holding of the military manoeuvreS:Big Pine III, he reported that in June 1984 the Granadera I manoeuvres would be held, in which Salvadoran’and Guatemalan troops would take part. These manoeuvres would be carried out in the western region of Honduras, bordering on the Nicaraguan department, of Chinandega. i 14. It is worthwhile asking whether these most recent attacks directed at Nicaragua are not the outcome of bellicose statements and demonstrations. Do they not represent concrete ,expression of the” irrepressible desire to wage an unjust and senseless war against Nicaragua? When we add to all this, rhetoric and all these specific facts the troops, artillery and airplanes Honduras has concentrated on its border with Nicaragua, it is particularly relevant to ask whether it can be assumed that Honduras intends to remain peaceful. It is impossible to ignore the negotiations-which are now at an advanced stage-between the Governments of the United States and Honduras aimed at building a new military base in Honduras at a cost of more than $160 million, which is a serious setback for the efforts of the Contadora Group and a violation ‘of the commitments entered into within the context of that initiative. Obviously, both countries are endeavouring to undermine the efforts of that Group, realizingis they do that that initiative is a genuine step towards what to them is an undesirable goal: peace in Central’America. Commitments already entered into, such ‘as’ the elimination of foreign military bases and the’ gradual withdrawal of military advisers within one*‘month, have 15. There is no longer any doubt whatsoever as to why the meeting of the Contadora Group with the Central American countries was suspended on 21 December 1983. As The&Jew York Times revealed, the obstructionist tactic of Honduras-to use the very words of that newspaper-has become that Government’s official policy in the Contadora Group, choosing to act completely at variance with the commitments it had assumed: if the Contadora Group suggests there should be an end to the building of military bases, Honduras agrees to the building of a gigantic one; and if the Group advocates the withdrawal of military advisers, Honduras approves the:indefinite stationing of hundreds of American soldiers. The United States and its allies have been put in a difficult and uncomfortable position within the Contadora Group because of the constructive, flexible and honest attitude of the Nicaraguan Govemment and because of the sincere intentions of the Group itself to achieve an honourable and just solution to the problem of Central America. That is why those countries are obsessed,with the idea of dashing the peace efforts and imposing their military alternatives and violent solutions to the conflict. :tir., 16. For the first time the Pentagon has confirmed the rumours of a.permanent military United States presence in Honduras. When on 1 February Caspar Weinberger was questioned by the Senate Armed Forces Committee on.a.permanent United States presence in Honduras, he .declared, “As regards a permanent presence, a certain number of soldiers ,will remain in that situation,?: Cynically-and, presumably, to set the minds of the members of that Committee at rest-he concluded by telling them that he did not think the number of permanent troops would reach 1,000, that there would only be between 700 and 800 and that the objective would be “to see to the maintenance of the military installations” which had to be build during the Big Pine II manoeuvres, such as, for example, roads, docks and radar installations. Those same Pentagon officials expanded on the information available and told the media that the permanent contingent would include air traffic controllers, medical personnel and specialists in so-called civic action. :_ 17. To confirm even further the veracity of the interventionist plans -of the Reagan Administration against our country and the use of Honduran territory as a base for aggression; pne need only look at the House of Representatives sub-committee report on military installations which, in addition to criticizing the Department of Defeqse for having built military installations in Honduras without Congressional approval, adds that: i‘, ’ ‘ ‘4 “From fact,,that at present.new exercises are being prepared and no one wants or is able to give any indication ofthe purposes ofthose new installations, it must be concluded that a qontinuation of the United States presence is significant.” 18. Statements by one of the members of that subcommittee, Senator Jim Sasser, a Democrat from Tennessee, were also revealing. In statements to the press he said that the Pentagon was trying to deceive the Congress by building in Honduras a military infrastructure which went far beyond what was necessary for carrying out the military exercises that were taking place there. Those statements, together with the information provided in the sub-committee’s report to the effect that the improvements in the military installations in Honduras do not seem to be directly related to the Big Pine manoeuvres, prompt us to conclude once again that we are in the other phase of the Reagan Administration’s aggressive plan, the goal of which is direct military intervention by United States troops in Central America. .’ 19. It is now clear to everyone that the objective of the United States military presence in Honduras is not what the President of the United States and officials at various levels have tirelessly maintained and are trying to get the American people and the international community to believe. It is not just a matter of exerting pressure in order to stop the alleged flow of weapons. 20. During the past’four years our Government has been complaining to the international community, and yesterday in Caracas the United States Secretary of State, George Shultz, confirmed our complaints. Referring to statements by Commander Daniel Ortega Saavedra about United States military intervention in Nicaragua, he said: “If I were they”-the Sandinists- “I, too, would worry.” 21. In his most recent report, the Secretary-General described the situation in Central America as “exceedingly complex and unstable” [see S/16208, para. 41, and he acknowledged that there were: “certain developments in the situation which, if taken advantage of, would make it possible to entertain hopes of improvement” [ibid., para. 31. Those developments stem from progress and achievements in the Contadora negotiating process and from some of Nicaragua’s proposals that have been put forward in that process. But the Secretary-General warned that multiple factors which together maintain a dangerous situation can aggravate it again “from one moment to the next” [ibid., paru. 41. 22. Indeed, in spite of the aforesaid positive elements, the continued existence of aggressive military equipment, the constant threat against Nicaragua and its revolution, and the stepping up of diplomatic and political manoeuvres by the current United States Administration reinforce our conviction that the danger is far from disappearing and that this fragile relaxation of tension could evaporate at any moment. We believe our assessment of the situation is borne out by recent 23. It is for those reasons that we have requested this urgent meeting of the Security Council. We wish to alert its members and the international community to the extreme gravity of the situation, which gives the lie to statements by spokesmen of the Government of Honduras and of the United States aimed at creating an appearance of support for and interest in the Contadora Group’s peace initiatives. 24. It is no coincidence that those bombings of Nicaraguan military installations, with the direct involvement of foreign military equipment, took place only a few days after the formal beginning of the work of the Working Commissions on political, security and economic matters established by the Contadora Group after the signing and ratification of the document entitled “Measures to be taken to fulfil the commitments entered into in the Document of Objectives*’ [S/26262, annex I, appendix]. 25. The very purpose of those Working Commissions isto deal thoroughly with the problems relating to the various sectors assigned to them and to give the ministers a report containing proposals for more concrete commitments, which should lead to immediate and effective.action to reduce sources of tension and ensure a stable peace in the area. Military pressure has now supplemented the obstructionist and dilatory tactics employed in the process of diplomatic negotiations; indeed, the recent military provocations that we are denouncing today go further, reaching intolerable limits. 26. My Government, therefore, vigorously reiterates its protest. The entire Nicaraguan people is fully prepared to repel by force of arms any attack or act of aggression, regardless of the source, against our independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. At the same time, we wish to reaffirm our right to selfdefence and our deep commitment to peace in Central America. We are most willing to enter into a dialogue and we firmly intend to renew our efforts to ensure that the Contadora peace initiatives achieve the difficult goal that has been set.

The next speaker is the representative of Honduras, on whom I call. 28. Mr. HERRERA CACERES (Honduras) [interpretation from Spanish]: First of all, I should like to express to you, Sir, the pleasure of the Honduras delegation at seeing you presiding over the important debates of the Security Council during this month. 29. I should like also to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Council for responding affirmatively to our request to be allowed to take part in the meetings on the present agendaitem, through which the representative of the Sandinist Government has once 31. Honduras can declare with absolute certainty that this accusation is completely unfounded. No military aircraft left its base in the circumstances invented by the vivid imagination of the Sandinist Government in its attempt to divert attention from the internal struggles taking place in Nicaragua. 32. On 13 September last the Security Council met at the request of the Sandinist Government [2477th meeting], and that Government levelled the same kind of unjustified accusations that it is making today against my Government. Subsequently those accusations were shown to be unfounded, particularly when Eden Pastora, commander of&the Democratic Revolutionary Alliance, which is fighting in southern Nicaragua, said that those attacks had been carried out by his own Nicaraguan forces in Nicaraguan territory. , I 33. In my letter dated 20 September 1983 to the President of the Security Council [S/15995], we set forth a number of facts in support of our position and demonstrated the duplicity and complicity of Nicaraguan diplomats. In that letter we also pointed out that what took place was very different from what was portrayed by the Nicaraguan delegation and showed that there was a disturbing disinformation campaign directed at convincing world public opinion that other Central American countries were intervening in Nicaragua’s internal conflict or had aggressive designs on”that .fratemal country. In that letter we said that those false accusations were all the more disturbing coming, as they did, on 7,8 and 9 September, the days on which the fourth joint meeting of the Ministers for External Relations of Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela, the members of the Contadora Group, and the~Ministers for External Relations of Costa Rica, El.Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua was held, for the purpose of seeking a definitive solution to--the Central American problem. 34. Today, by a much too systema&‘:coincidence, there are further false accusations, scarcely a day after the close of a new meeting of the Contadpra Group, at which progress was made towards implementation of the Document of Objectives and the measures for its fulfilment-indeed, at the time when it ,was decided to implement the agreement on the Honduran initiative to establish Working Commissions on the various issues covered in the Document+hat is, on political, security, and economic and social matters. r >. : 36. As a distinguished author from a country that suffered the serious consequences of the Second World War and Hitler’s policies said, control of the media can make it possible for some Governments to produce sentimental and even passionate reactions among their people and create a political crisis. Hitler’s tactics featured an impressive balance of attacks, like the ones being made now, and offers at negotiation, like the ones that the Sandinist Government says it is putting before the Contadora ‘Group. It is interesting that a Govemment which has already shown the world what its basic ideological oriehtation is does not seem willing to follow its own orientation but has assumed certain immoral attitudes’which have already been historically rejected by the-entire world community. I 37. I have been,referring to facts. The Sandinist Government has sent notes of protest to this Council in which it implicated the Government of Honduras in what it called at the time “counter-revolutionary groups” that had attacked the Nicaraguan village of Francis-Sirper on 20 December. It also stated that those forces had left from Honduran territory and returned, threatening most of the Miskito population as well as Monsignor Salvador Shaffer, Father Wendo Lin and other clergymen, and that the Honduran Government was responsible for the fate of those individuals. 38. Once again the world was able to verify the falsity of that accusation when the Bishop himself declared here in the United States that he was helping the Miskitos to find a refuge in Honduras. 39. Subsequently, and very recently, the Sandinist Government, supposedly transcribing a statement made by Nobel Peace Price winner Mr. Perez Esquivel, accused Honduras of being implicated in genocide against the Mi’skitos. But the same Mr. Perez Esquivel denied this, saying that he hade never made such a charge with regard to the Honduran army as described by the Sandinist Government. The Sandinist Govemment is obviously very clever at manipulating information. Regrettably, there are many people of good faith who in the past have been taken’in by these claims, but today they are taking a harder look and adopting positions that are more in keeping with the reality. “It has been said that there are foreign military bases in Honduras, which is an implicit reference to the Regional Military Training Centre established by the Honduran Government in a location distant from our border with Nicaragua, directed and supervised by Honduran officers, first of all to train Honduran troops and also to train the troops of friendly countries. It receives assistance from experts not only from the United States, but also from any country in Central or South America with which we maintain relations of co-operation. It is only by ignoring the elements of the legal definition of a foreign military base that one could dare to call the Honduran military centre a foreign military base.“’ 41. On that same occasion we stated, with reference to the joint manoeuvres, that such joint United States- Honduras exercises are held on the basis of a Bilateral Military Assistance Agreement* signed in May 1954 and that recently they have been taking place since 1965. For further refutation of the accusation regarding ’ aggressive goals, we might read the preambular part of that I954 Agreement, which states that the goal of this military co-operation is to abide by “pledges under the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance and other international instruments to assist any American State subjected to armed attack and to act together for the common defence and for the maintenance of the peace and security of the Western Hemisphere;” and that the signatory Governments desire “to foster international peace and security within the framework of the Charter of the United Nations through measures which will further the ability of nations dedicated to the purposes and principles of the Charter to participate effectively in arrangements for individual and collective self-defence in support of those purposes and principles”. Furthermore, among the purposes specifically set out since 1954 in those agreements are full co-operation in efforts to provide armed forces to the United Nations in accordance with the Charter and the achievement of agreements on universal regulation and reduction of armaments with effective safeguards against breaches of those agreements. 42. We have stated repeatedly that these agreements are public and that they have been registered with 43. It is important for those of us who are involved in the regional negotiating process aimed at finally achieving a comprehensive regional solution which would simultaneously put an end to all the causes of conflict in Central America that the international community influence the Government of Nicaragua to leave behind its provocations, lest it fall into its own trap. We hope that that Government will not continue to foster a climate of distrust which affects the Contadora process. Scheming and treachery are harmful to any negotiating process, even when they seem to further it. 44. The representative of Nicaragua has referred to what he called the obstructionist attitude, citing a fine United States newspaper. With all due respect for the press in the various countries and aware of its general tenor, Honduras could still not base its international position only on information from any single source, as the Sandinist Government has so frequently done in support of its position. Evidence of this can be found in all the documents of the General Assembly and the Security Council. But with regard to the position of the Sandinist Government, what is most regrettable is that it comes up with only those New York Times articles which are favourable to it, not those which are harmful to it. The New Yurk Times has questioned all of last year’s so-called openings by the Nicaraguan Govemment allegedly aimed at reaching an agreement in Central America. Had the representative of Nicaragua not been ignoring those parts of The New York Times that were not to his liking he might have found a clarification by a Honduran spokesman regarding the article referring to the “obstructionist tactics” of Honduras and explaining why the meeting to which he referred did not take place on 21 December; that meeting had been scheduled for 12 December, and Honduras had made a genuine contribution to its convening. 45. In addition to not having the necessary resources, Honduras does not have a reason to pursue a systematic campaign like that pursued by the Nicaraguans in order to create an apparent reality which is not in accord with the truth about its actions. All we wish to do is show the international community what the facts are. The international community is familiar with all the initiatives of the Contadora Group. The international community knows that it was we who were the first to put forward a peace plan for the Central American region. The international community knows that we are now establishing working groups. The international community is familiar with our efforts to achieve a 46. I have no wish to continue rehearsing the whole series of falsehoods uttered here, for@e.Council’s time is precious. But we cannot ignore tli,isiconstant attempt to deceive others and to conceal the truth about the harsh realities, which must be considered in depth. Those harsh realities have to do primarily with the internal problems of Nicaragua. jI 47. We would only urge that due account be taken of the fact that the Contadora process will reach a successful conclusion only if there is a singleminded political will on the part of all States. Duplicity is counter-productive. Honduras reiterates its devotion to peace and its full support for the process in which we are already involved. 48. Honduras, like any other sovereign State, is continuing to train its army to defend its territorial integrity. The people of Honduras are also united. I am not talking about war, as does the representative of Nicaragua. I am talking about peace, for we are preserving our internal peace and also want international peace, especially in Central America.

Sir, it is a particular pleasure to welcome your presidency of the Security Council, in part because of the deep respect we have for your own personal talents as a diplomat and for your personal integrity; in part, it is a reflection of the admiration, respect and friendship which our two nations bear towards one another. It is a pleasure as well for the United States to pay tribute to your predecessor, the representative of Nicaragua, who discharged the office of President last month with judiciousness, even-handedness and a high degree of competence and honour, as well as with a high degree of consciousness of the seriousness of the business in which the Security Council should always be engaged. It is regrettable that the Government he represents does not always share those attributes. 50. Every several months the dignity of this important international forum and the patience of its members are strained and abused by the Government of Nicaragua with hysterical allegations of aggression by my Government and by neighbouring Governments in Central America. We hear them every several months. I am constrained to say that recycled refuse does not improve with age, nor does the odour of sanctity which it emits. 5 1. The United States has not engaged in aggression against Nicaragua. The United States is not now engaged in aggression against Nicaragua. The United States does not plan to engage in aggression against Nicaragua. We do intend to continue to co-operate with our friends in Central America, as elsewhere, in de- 52. In the pa&our years coffee has given way as Nicaragua’s principal export to so-called indigenous revolutions and ‘t;;’ ‘the systematic effort to destabilize free and democratic Governments throughout Central America. So long as that situation persists, so, unfortunately, will tension in the region. When that situation no longer pertains, when the Sandinist regime begins to fulfil its own promises to its own people, my Govemment does not doubt that peace, reconciliation and good-neighbourliness can and will be restored in Ceni L I :,,

There are no further speakers. The next meeting of the Security Council to continue the consideration of the item on the agenda will be fmed in consultation with members of the Council. The meeting rose at 6 p.m. NOTES ’ See MXf38lSR.65, para. 75. 2 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 222, No. 3025. ‘:: .‘, . ;:. HOW TO OBTAIN UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATIONS United Nations publications may be obtained from bookstores and distributors throughout the world. Consult your bookstore or write to: United Nations, Sales Section. New York or Geneva. COMMENT SE PROCURER LES PUBLICATIONS DES NATIONS UNIES Les publications des Nations Unies sont en vente dans les librairies et les agences depositaires du monde entier. Informez-vous auprts de votre libraire ou adressez-vous a : Nations Unies, Section des ventes. New York ou Geneve. KAK IIOJIY’IHTI. ZI3AAHZIH OPrAHH 3AIKIIII Oli%E;WiHEHHI.IX HAIMR COMO CONSEGUIR PUBLICACIONES DE LAS NACIONES UNIDAS Las publicaciones de las Naciones Unidas estan en venta en librerias y casas distribuidoms en todas pattes del mundo. Cons&e a su librero o dirijase a: Naciones Unidas, Seccibn de Yentas, Nueva York o Ginebra. , Litho in United Nations, New York 00300 go-61313~Janualy 1993-2.050