Nicaragua (Hansard, 10 May 1989)

§ 3. Mr. Tony Banks
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the recent visit of the President of Nicaragua.

§ 14. Mr. Loyden
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he last met the President of Nicaragua; and what subjects were discussed.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Tim Eggar)
President Ortega visited the United Kingdom from 6 to 8 May in the course of an extensive European tour. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister met him on 8 May. My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State and I saw Foreign Minister d'Escoto on the same day.

§ Mr. Banks
May I through you, Mr. Speaker, thank all hon. Members for the warm and courteous welcome they gave President Ortega on Monday, which was in stark contrast to the ill-advised, offensive, abusive and graceless way in which the Prime Minister treated him? As she always speaks on Nicaragua from a position of profound ignorance, will she be accepting the invitation extended by President Ortega to send a Government delegation to Nicaragua to study the situation there prior to next year's election?

§ Mr. Eggar
My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister made it clear during the President's visit that our attitude to Nicaragua will continue to be based on our assessment of its moves to genuine democracy, its determination to remove foreign advisers, its determination or otherwise to reduce its armed forces and its determination to stop the destabilisation of neighbouring countries. Those are exactly the four criteria by which we made it clear that we would judge Nicaragua when my right hon. and learned Friend met its vice-president over three years ago.

§ Mr. Loyden
Instead of using language that has been used by Foreign Office Ministers since time immemorial and criticising its Government without understanding 844 what is going on, why does not the Minister think more positively and send a delegation to Nicaragua to see developments at first hand?

§ Mr. Eggar
We have an excellent embassy and chargé d'affaires who regularly report what is happening Nicaragua. The hon. Gentleman appears to be unaware that all Nicaraguan opposition parties from the far Left to the far Right have condemned the changes to the electoral law that were introduced by the Sandinistas on 5 May, of which President Ortega appears to be unaware.

§ Mr. Ashby
As someone who is not profoundly ignorant of Nicaragua and has seen its steady deterioration over the past four years as a result of the nature of its Government, will my hon. Friend welcome steps towards further elections and explain to President Ortega some of the prerequisites for fair and free elections? It is no good having an Sandinistan army or police force, and it is no good local committees run by Sandinistas distributing food to everyone, expecting them to believe that there will be fair and free elections.

§ Mr. Eggar
I agree with my hon. Friend, who echoes the points made by President Arias of Costa Rica, among others. The present Nicaraguan constitution ensures that the armed forces and apparatus of the state owe allegiance not to the country but to the Sandinista party.

Mr. Robert G. Hughes
Does my hon. Friend agree that there is an interesting contrast between the attitude of the Opposition in this House, who seem to regard Nicaragua as a gentle democracy, and the fact that in Nicaragua, the Sandinista Government do not allow the Opposition free and fair access to the media?

§ Mr. Eggar
I agree completely with my hon. Friend. The Sandinista party controls all the television stations.

§ Mr. Foulkes
Why do not the Government for once use their undoubted influence with the United States in a positive way and persuade the United States to use the money that it is planning to give to terrorists to resettle people in Nicaragua for the free and fair elections to be held in February 1990? Why are our Government the only Government in Europe not attending the Stockholm conference on aid to Nicaragua, which is beleaguered by war and the recent hurricane? Why will the Minister not consider visiting Nicaragua to find out the truth about it, instead of hearing the ignorance displayed by the Prime Minister at her meeting with Daniel Ortega?

§ Mr. Eggar
We are not attending the Stockholm conference because we believe that the economic collapse which is a feature of Nicaragua at present was brought about by the Sandinista regime and we see no reason to provide additional aid. As the hon. Gentleman knows, we have provided humanitarian aid to assist with the effects of the hurricane. We support, of course, the new bipartisan policy of the United States.