Word: madrid
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Despite a show of unity in Madrid, the rift over sanctions runs deep...
...after another, foreign ministers of leading Western nations strode to the podium at Madrid's Palacio Nacional de Congresos and delivered scorching variations on a single theme. "The commitment of the Polish government to fulfill its obligations under the Helsinki accords has clearly been abandoned," charged Canadian External Affairs Minister Mark MacGuigan. Said Secretary of State Alexander Haig: "The generals in this war against the Polish people are none other than the Polish regime itself, acting at the instigation and coercion of the Soviet Union." Added West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher: "We cannot accept that the threat...
...parliamentary maneuver provoked even more vituperation from the West. Snapped French Foreign Minister Claude Cheysson, who was next in line when the speakers were cut off: "This is democracy à la East." Added Javier Rupérez, Spanish delegate: "The Polish delegate has declared martial law in Madrid...
...Reagan Administration's aim in Madrid was to use the meeting as a forum to chastise Moscow and the government of General Wojciech Jaruzelski for imposing martial law in Poland. The U.S. also seriously contemplated a boycott of the Madrid talks unless martial law was eased or lifted. European diplomats who believe strongly in East-West dialogue-notably West Germany's Genscher-balked at the plan. But Haig managed to persuade them to agree to a unified gesture of condemnation. The Soviet-initiated suspension of the conference thus played right into into American hands. Explained a Canadian delegate...
...Americans took full advantage of their diplomatic windfall. After the chaotic session had ended, Chief U.S. Delegate Max Kampelman drove home the Administration view that the 1975 Helsinki accords, which are the basis for the 16-month-old Madrid conference and which are viewed in Western Europe as a framework for guaranteeing human rights in East bloc countries, have been effectively gutted by Soviet aggression. Said Kampelman: "It would appear as if the Soviet Union is acting to undermine both the letter and spirit of Helsinki." Haig contended that continuing the talks at this point would be to "simply condone...