A week of Mixed Signals

The U.S. still has trouble shaping its Central American policy

Secretary of State Alexander Haig said last week that the renewed attention the Reagan Administration is placing on its Central American policy is designed to "put the current state of play into sharper focus." Yet the play at his State Department seemed, as Alice said of her own Wonderland, curiouser and curiouser. Does Washington sincerely want to pursue negotiations to reduce tensions between the U.S. and Nicaragua? Is Central America a "global" problem that requires the participation of the Soviet Union and Cuba? Should the U.S. keep trying to prove outside involvement...