Diplomacy: The Secret off Manzanillo

Publicly hostile, the U.S. and Nicaragua are privately talking

While rancor flew between Washington and Moscow, the Reagan Administration was making optimistic noises last week about another troublesome foreign relationship. The signals hinted encouragingly at progress in a two-month-old series of secretive bilateral talks aimed at easing the undeclared hostilities between the U.S. and the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. Said a U.S. official familiar with the talks: "You can say we've taken the first step toward improving relations."

Sandinista leaders appeared to confirm that view. Following the latest round of discreetly private...

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