Shultz Assures Latin Envoys on Debt Crisis

WASHINGTON —  Secretary of State George P. Shultz told Latin American ambassadors Thursday night that the Reagan Administration will manage “effectively and equitably” the debt crisis that Cuba has made an issue in attacking U.S. policies in the region.

In an address before 25 Latin ambassadors he had invited to watch Fourth of July fireworks from the State Department’s Benjamin Franklin Room, Shultz said: “An enduring peace and internal democratic reconciliation are fundamental objectives of our policy in Central America.

“For security and democracy to prosper, the anti-democratic maneuvers of Cuba and other Communist forces must be stopped.”

Nicaragua Envoy Attends

A State Department spokesman said that Nicaraguan Ambassador Carlos Tunnerman accepted an invitation to attend the celebration, despite increasingly strained relations with Washington. Ramon Sanchez-Parodi, head of the Cuban Interests Section in the Czechoslovakian Embassy, Cuba’s diplomatic office, was not invited. He is of less than ambassadorial rank.

Cuban President Fidel Castro has been making Latin America’s $360-billion debt--most of it owed by Argentina, Mexico and Brazil to U.S. banks--an issue of independence in attacking U.S. policies in the region.

‘Financial Hurricanes’

Shultz said the U.S. goal in the region “is to reach beyond merely surviving the financial hurricanes of the last years. It must be to restore long-term growth.

“The United States is committed to helping to manage the debt crisis effectively and equitably. Our growth--and the continued openness of the U.S. market in spite of trade deficits--is contributing to your economic recovery,” he said.

“Our challenge is to continue this growth. Neither austerity nor ever-rising trade surpluses can be sustained indefinitely. But strong investment, healthy domestic markets and increases in both exports and imports are all possible with the right policies,” he said.

“It’s not too simple or naive to say that growth is the only real answer to the debt crisis. It’s just a fact.”

Shultz said democracy can help economic recovery as well as individual freedom.