US peace overture to Nicaragua

US Ambassador Anthony Quainton, in an interview with the opposition La Prensa newspaper, held out an olive branch to Nicaragua, for the first time confirming reports that Washington is ready to ''revise all the Central American policy'' in the wake of the recent elections in El Salvador.

Monitor Latin America correspondent James Nelson Goodsell reports there appears to be increased diplomatic activity in Central America aimed at resolving many of the points of confrontation between Nicaragua and the United States.

Mr. Quainton, who only recently took his post, said US-Nicaraguan negotiations to improve relations may start soon. ''They will be high-level talks, open, frank, sincere, recognizing bilateral and regional problems,'' he said.

It was the first time a Reagan administration official publicly confirmed reports the US planned to revise policy in the troubled region. But the ambassador declined to give more details on the talks before presenting ''the formulas'' to Nicaraguan officials.

In addition, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Miguel d'Escoto Brockman is expected to visit Honduras next week for talks with his counterpart, Honduran Foreign Minister Edgardo Paz Barnica. The Nicaraguan government claims Nicaraguan counterrevolutionaries are using Honduras as a base for their operations. On April 6 the government held a press conference at which it presented a Nicaraguan ''mercenary'' who claimed he had been trained in Honduras, and had returned to blow up a bridge over the Nicaragua's Negro River.