BRASILIA, Brazil -- Vice President George Bush met informally with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega Friday and discussed the Sandinista government's four-point peace plan, a diplomat said.
Bush and Ortega met during a lull in inauguration ceremonies for Brazilian acting President Jose Sarney, sworn in to serve until President-elect Tancredo Neves recovers from emergency intestinal surgery.
Ortega counted off the four points one-by-one on his fingers, observers of the five-minute conversation said.
Ortega was telling Bush about the four points of a peace plan Nicaragua proposed last week after Ortega met with Secretary of State George Shultz, Mirna Tenorio of the Nicaraguan Embassy said.
'We postpone arms purchases, we sign the Contadora Act as it is, the United States government stops financing the contras and the talks in Manzanillo (between Nicaragua and the United States) are resumed,' Tenorio said, describing the proposal.
Diplomats said no formal meeting between Bush and Ortega was likely in Brazil. Bush was to leave early Saturday for Honduras and Washington. But Ortega said he would meet with Panamian Foreign Minister Fernando Cardoze Fabrega.
It was possible this and other bilateral contacts would lead to a meeting of ministers from Mexico, Venezuela, Panama and Colombia, the four countries responsible for the Contadora peace initiative, Ortega said.
The Contadora peace initiative, which was put together to bring peace to Central America, has been stymied since last month.
Bush scheduled a working breakfast for Saturday with the foreign ministers of Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatamala, the so-called core nations that tend to suport U.S. policy in Central America.
