A ceasefire had been in effect in Nicaragua since April, but talks had broken

down. What should the United States be doing? According to Mr. Roett, "The

Nicaraguan situation needs to be looked at in the context of 1988-1989, not in the context

of President Reagan's inauguration, when he himself took on the Contras as a very

personal cause. He is finished; they, too, will soon be finished." To Mrs. Purcell, "When

you set up a negotiating process between one side that is heavily armed by the Soviets

and the other side that really doesn't even have food and boots, it is a very unequal

negotiation." Mr. Buckley, taking issue with Mr. Roett, asserts that "There is no such

thing as a nice clinically, hygienically, hermetically sealed Soviet satellite in Central

America." Heat but also light on this subject of protracted American consideration.