"No Danger of Being Polluted"

As a founder of the Contadora group, Mexican Foreign Minister Bernardo Sepulveda Amor, 41, has been actively involved in seeking a peaceful solution to the conflicts in Central America. The stylish, eloquent former professor of international law met with TIME Mexico City Bureau Chief James Willwerth and Reporter Laura Lopez last week to offer his analysis of the region's troubles. Excerpts from the interview:

On Mexico's interest in Central America. We are worried by the political turmoil, the economic crisis and the resulting instability. We cannot disregard the arms buildup. We have been very clear on the need to ensure that there is absolutely no foreign intervention in Central America. We do not want a crisis in Central America that could become similar to the one that has continued for 40 years in the Middle East, where there is extreme complexity and where the two superpowers compete for political and military influence.

On the aims of the Contadora group. We have insisted on the need to reach a political agreement in Central America on the basis of nonintervention and self-determination. That would, among other things, eliminate foreign military advisers and control the arms race. We think that it is very important that Latin American nations, developed countries and the international community--through the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and other institutions--help Central America with economic assistance.

On Nicaragua. Mexico knows from experience that the creation of political and economic institutions in a country that had none whatsoever is an extremely difficult and complex process. It requires time, political wisdom and political experience.

That may also mean a little patience.

Some countries find social change in other countries a threat to their interests. We had that experience.

Now Nicaragua is going through it.

We believe that given the chance, Nicaraguan society will find the way to build its own political institutions without any foreign interference.

We should not provide fuel for the more radical elements in the revolution. It would be better to ensure that the more balanced political forces in Nicaragua have the larger say. We do not think that the Nicaraguan opposition can legitimize its position through the use of force. On the contrary, we think that right now the Nicaraguan authorities are doing their very best to find a mechanism by which political parties will be able to function in that society.

On El Salvador. There should be no dilemma in choosing between elections and negotiations. There can be negotiations and elections, and by encouraging this we would help the process of national reconciliation. We believe that at some point we may be able to play a useful role in getting the two parties together. But I think it would be extremely risky to say what will happen next.

On Honduras. It is difficult to know how the political system will be affected by the presence of the U.S. military and the contras on Honduran territory. As far as I know, some of the opposition parties have questioned the wisdom of having such a large military presence in Honduras. It may make military forces predominant within Honduran society. We would very much prefer to see the responsibility for government remain with civilians.

On fears that unrest in Central America could affect Mexico. I do not subscribe to the domino theory at all. Each society has its own identity and its own political and economic institutions, and the idea of a society's being contaminated ideologically from other sources is incorrect. We are not in danger of being polluted in any manner whatsoever by the Central American political conflicts. We have already had our own revolution, which established a strong political and social infrastructure.

On differences between U.S. and Mexican foreign policy. It may happen that in some instances we shall differ with U.S. policies. We shall certainly express our differences. But we do not seek that. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.