by the El Reportero’s news services
Eduardo Montealegre
On 7 July the Fiscal General Office accused Eduardo Montealegre and 38 other people of fraud over the issue of Certificados Negociables de Inversión (Negotiable Investment Certificates). Montealegre heads the main opposition to the alliance between the Sandinistas and rump of the Partido Liberal Constitucionalista (PLC) which is loyal to a former (corrupt) president Arnoldo Alemán.
Montealegre, nominally a Liberal, was one of Alemán’s finance ministers. The government’s decision to go after him is another sign that the Sandinista-PLC combination fears an independent opposition. Last month the alliance pushed a measure through congress that postponed regional and municipal elections in the Región Autónoma Atlántico Norte, a region which the opposition was almost certain to dominate.
Committee clears Latin America aid bill
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved June 24 a bill that authorizes $2.5 billion in aid to Latin America over a ten-year period.
The funds would be split between the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Inter-American Development Bank.
Sponsors are Sens. Robert Menéndez (D-N.J.) and Mel Martinez (R-Fla.).
According to Menéndez the bill “will help build institutions, stabilize 3economies, reduce poverty, expand the middle class, and invest in key development area such as rule-of-law, competitiveness, governance, and judicial and regulatory reform in Latin America and the Caribbean.
It will help expand markets for U.S. businesses and the goods and services they offer.”
He added, “Our lack of engagement in Latin America has created a vacuum that has allowed some to sell an anti-American agenda which simply has no place in the region.”
Martínez stated, “We must work in a bipartisan manner to avoid any negative influence of nations that seek to increase false democracies and prop up existing dictatorships.” Hispanic Link.
Countdown starts for Calderón
The mid-term elections appear to be beginning to dominate President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa’s mind. Political commentators have seized on a Freudian slip, but more tangible evidence comes from Calderón’s manoeuvring against his rivals in the Partido Acción Nacional.
The most high profile casualties of this have been Santiago Creel Miranda, once interior minister, and Manuel Espino Barrientos, a former party president. Calderón’s ruthlessness with his colleagues looks designed to ensure that the party remains disciplined.
