Nicaragua Asks Chavez to Stop Interfering
MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Norman Caldera has asked Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to butt out of his country's political affairs after Chavez signed a favorable oil pact with dozens of leftist Nicaraguan mayors.
Peru and a Mexican presidential candidate also have recently accused Chavez of interfering in internal affairs.
Chavez agreed last month to ship 10 million barrels of fuel a year at preferential prices to 51 Nicaraguan communities, many of them allied with the party of Sandinista presidential candidate Daniel Ortega. He also made a donation of 10,000 tons of urea to Sandinista farming organizations, Caldera said.
Chavez has openly backed Ortega, saying he would like his "friend" and "brother" to win Nov. 5 presidential elections.
"We hope this partisan support comes to an end so that Nicaraguans can freely choose who we want to be the next leader of Nicargua," Caldera told a local television station Thursday during a government event in the city of Boaco, 45 miles northeast of the capital, Managua.
Government officials could not be reached for comment Friday.
Ortega has denied Chavez's involvement in his campaign, saying the oil deal and urea donation are nothing more than the Venezuelan president's expression of solidarity with Nicaragua.
Officials in Peru and a candidate in Mexico have also recently accused Chavez of supporting leftist opposition presidential candidates in their countries.
On Saturday, Peru withdrew its ambassador from Venezuela to protest what it called Chavez's "persistent and flagrant" interference in politics. Chavez has repeatedly endorsed Peruvian nationalist presidential candidate Ollanta Humala, while calling one of Humala's rivals a thief and the other a candidate of the oligarchy.
In Mexico, presidential candidate Felipe Calderon, of the conservative National Action Party, has portrayed leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as a political menace linked to Chavez, infuriating both Chavez and Lopez Obrador, both of whom have denied the accusation.
Calderon also has accused Chavez of supporting the Mexican left by offering free operations to poor Indians in the town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, which is governed by Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party.
Peru and a Mexican presidential candidate also have recently accused Chavez of interfering in internal affairs.
Chavez agreed last month to ship 10 million barrels of fuel a year at preferential prices to 51 Nicaraguan communities, many of them allied with the party of Sandinista presidential candidate Daniel Ortega. He also made a donation of 10,000 tons of urea to Sandinista farming organizations, Caldera said.
Chavez has openly backed Ortega, saying he would like his "friend" and "brother" to win Nov. 5 presidential elections.
"We hope this partisan support comes to an end so that Nicaraguans can freely choose who we want to be the next leader of Nicargua," Caldera told a local television station Thursday during a government event in the city of Boaco, 45 miles northeast of the capital, Managua.
Government officials could not be reached for comment Friday.
Ortega has denied Chavez's involvement in his campaign, saying the oil deal and urea donation are nothing more than the Venezuelan president's expression of solidarity with Nicaragua.
Officials in Peru and a candidate in Mexico have also recently accused Chavez of supporting leftist opposition presidential candidates in their countries.
On Saturday, Peru withdrew its ambassador from Venezuela to protest what it called Chavez's "persistent and flagrant" interference in politics. Chavez has repeatedly endorsed Peruvian nationalist presidential candidate Ollanta Humala, while calling one of Humala's rivals a thief and the other a candidate of the oligarchy.
In Mexico, presidential candidate Felipe Calderon, of the conservative National Action Party, has portrayed leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as a political menace linked to Chavez, infuriating both Chavez and Lopez Obrador, both of whom have denied the accusation.
Calderon also has accused Chavez of supporting the Mexican left by offering free operations to poor Indians in the town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, which is governed by Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party.
posted by Marko at 5/06/2006 12:50:00 AM
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