Sandinista Official Says U.S. Is Meddling [View All]

[Rose Siding]

MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- Two decades after the United States backed a civil war against Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista government, a top Sandinista official said Tuesday Washington is meddling again, leveling accusations against party leader Daniel Ortega to try to prevent him from returning to the presidency.

Tomas Borge, the former interior minister who is currently No. 2 in the Sandinista Party, said the United States is using a complaint about surface-to-air missiles left over from the war to try to derail a bid by Ortega to retake the presidency in elections next year.

"The United States is trying once again to meddle in Nicaragua's internal affairs, because they are desperate and scared by a certain Sandinista victory in the upcoming elections," Borge, the party's vice-secretary, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
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Ortega has led Sandinista opposition to the missile destruction, allying with another opposition group to pass legislation preventing President Enrique Bolanos from destroying the weapons. They say bowing to U.S. pressure to destroy them would infringe on the country's sovereignty. But even Bolanos' administration has said Nicaragua needs to hold on to some of the missiles to maintain Central America's balance of power.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-nicaragua-us-sandinistas,0,7390052.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines