WASHINGTON -- The U.S. order that 21 Nicaraguan diplomats leave the United States, a swift and harsh retaliation to the expulsion of three American diplomats from Nicaragua, strains the already shaky relations between the two nations.
The State Department also closed the six Nicaraguan consultates in New York, Miami, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Houston and San Francisco. The administration ordered the six heads of the counsulates to leave by 4 p.m. EDT today, but gave their staff and family members until Friday to get out of the country. About 30 family members are said to be involved.
U.S. officials said consular ties between the two countries were not being severed and would be carreed on through the Nicaraguan Embassy in Washington. But relations are obviously strained.
Washington accuses the Marxist-dominated government of sending weapons and supplies to guerrillas in El Salvador and fomenting rebel movements in Honduras and Guatemala.
Nicaragua accuses the United States of assisting rebels based in Honduras who have launched attacks inside Nicaraguan territory.
The House foreign Affairs Committee Tuesday voted 20-14 to halt covert U.S. support for Nicaraguan rebels. But Reagan administration officials say the action has a long way to go before becoming law.
The Nicarguans Monday announced the expulsion of three Americans: Linda Pfeifel, counselor for political affairs and consul; David N. Greig, first secretary and consul, and Ermila Loretta Rodriguez. They were accused of recruiting and training Nicaraguan citizens and 'providing them with means for the execution' of Nicaraguan officials including the foreign minister, Miguel D'Escoto.
The U.S. reaction left the Nicaraguan embassy staff and consulate in Washington intact, but it struck directly at the consulates around the country which do the bulk of the paper work in the approximately $20 million in Nicaraguan imports into the United States annually.
The State Department said:
'The principal officers heading the six posts ... are to leave the United States no later than June 8, 1983, and the consular offices in those cities are to terminate their functions the same day. All other Nicaraguan personnel assigned to those installations, with their dependents, are to leave the United States no later than Friday, June 10, 1983.'
Manuel Cordero, second-ranking diplomat in the United States, reiterated Nicaragua's charge that the three expelled Americans were involved in an assassination plot against his country's foreign minister.
'The cause of tensions is the Reagan adminstration's continued support for our enemies, and the involvement of agents within Nicaragua and the CIA manipulation of those agents,' he told reporters at an embassy news conference. 'It is up to the United States to improve relations between our countries.'
The three U.S. diplomats who were ousted from Nicaragua arreved at Washington's National Airport Tuesday afternoon and were whisked away in government cars.
'The only thing we have to say is we categorically reject the absurd charges against us,' Ms. Pfeifel told reporters during the stop in Miami.
She added the diplomats were 'very happy to be home. It's nice to be back.'
Greig said, 'The United States has rejected the charges ... and the manner in which we were treated.'
