by the El Reportero’s news services
After the Sandinistas in Nicaragua won most municipal elections in Nicaragua amid charges of fraud, The U.S. government is reviewing a $175 million program of aid to Nicaragua.
“A consistent pattern of behavior by the government of (President) Daniel Ortega that calls into question Nicaragua’s respect for the rule of law and good governance,” is part of the irregularities surrounding the Nov. 9 elections in Nicaragua, said Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Berman, a California Democrat, wrote to the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which manages grants to developing countries, urging a suspension of its five-year program aimed at increasing the incomes of rural farmers and entrepreneurs in Nicaragua. The program was begun in 2005.
“We are currently considering the appropriate action to take with respect to MCC’s engagement with Nicaragua,” she said.
Members of Ortega’s leftist Sandinista party won 105 of 146 races in the nationwide municipal elections.
TAMBIÉN EN NICARAGUA, la Comisión Europea estaría dispuesta a apoyar al gobierno de Nicaragua en “un recuento de votos, una revisión o, incluso, una repetición” de los recientes comicios municipales, aseguró la comisaria europea de relaciones exteriores, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, informó el martes la oficina local del organismo.
“Si esto requiriera un recuento de votos, una revisión o, incluso, una repetición del proceso, la Comisión está dispuesta a apoyar al gobierno de Nicaragua con todos los medios a su disposición”, dijo Ferrero-Waldner desde Bruselas, sede del organismo, según una nota de prensa emitida en esta capital.
El comunicado dice que la comisaria ofreció ese apoyo al canciller nicaragüense Samuel Santos en una comunicación telefónica el viernes. “Estoy siguiendo con gran preocupación los acontecimientos en Nicaragua” tras las elecciones del nueve de noviembre, manifestó Ferrero-Waldner, según el boletín de prensa.
Venezuela’s Chavez welcomes Russian warships
LA GUAIRA, Venezuela – Russian warships sailed into port in Venezuela on Tuesday in a show of strength as Moscow seeks to counter U.S. influence in Latin America. Russia’s fi rst such deployment in the Caribbean since the Cold War is timed to coincide with President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Venezuela, the fi rst ever by a Russian president.
Russian sailors dressed in black-and-white uniforms lined up along the bow of the destroyer Admiral Chabanenko as it docked in La Guaira, near Caracas, and Venezuelan troops greeted them with cannons in a 21-gun salute. Two support vessels also docked, and the nuclear-powered cruiser Peter the Great, Russia’s largest navy ship, anchored offshore.
Chavez, basking in the support of a powerfully and traditional U.S. rival, wants Russian help to build a nuclear reactor, invest in oil and natural gas projects and bolster his leftist opposition to U.S. influence in the region.
IN OTHER RELATED VENEZUELAN NEW, President Hugo Chavez said he is proposing that OPEC countries consider setting a price range for oil of $80 to $100 a barrel to stabilize the global market.
Chavez raised his proposal for an oil price band Monday night, along with other proposals Venezuela is promoting among fellow oil exporters.
“Let’s look for a band between $80 and $100; we’re thinking about that,” Chavez said. “We think that price would be a fair price for oil.”
He called it a “stabilization band to avoid those jumps to $150, suddenly to $50 – a terrible uncertainty.”
