Central America The Disposal Problem

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Despite the Tela plan's promise, few observers are ready to pronounce the contras dead. Such pronouncements have been issued before. And the rebels made it plain last week that unless the Sandinistas agreed to negotiate with them as equal partners, they had no intention of disarming. If the contras fail to lay down their rifles voluntarily, no one is offering to take the weapons by force.

FOOTNOTE: *Oscar Arias Sanchez of Costa Rica, Alfredo Cristiani of El Salvador, Vinicio Cerezo of Guatemala, Jose Azcona del Hoyo of Honduras and Daniel Ortega Saavedra of Nicaragua