Nicaragua: Canning the Cardinal

The Sandinistas and the contras see eye to eye on very few things, but the two sides did agree that Nicaraguan Miguel Cardinal Obando y Bravo, 62, should mediate their cease-fire talks. Not anymore. After overseeing two sessions since January, Obando, a longtime critic of the regime, was abruptly dismissed last week by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega Saavedra, 42. Though the contras objected to Obando’s ouster, Ortega named his younger brother, Defense Minister Humberto Ortega, 40, to head a government delegation that planned to hold the Sandinistas’ first face-to-face meeting with rebel leaders this week.

Meanwhile, in Washington the House voted 216 to 208 to kill $30.5 million in humanitarian assistance for the contras. The package, designed by Democratic House Speaker Jim Wright to replace a military aid request that he had helped defeat last month, was voted down by a strange-bedfellows’ alliance of liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans. Ronald Reagan, who opposed the Wright proposal as too weak, indicated that he will continue to press for military help.