OAS considers being Nicaragua mediator
Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños and the Organization of American States are considering convening a national dialogue to try to resolve a political crisis triggered by an impeachment request against Bolaños.

Although supportive of the idea floated by an OAS delegation Friday after it returned from a fact-finding visit in Nicaragua, Bolaños' government said it wants the OAS first to condemn more forcefully the impeachment process.

Bolaños and other Central American presidents called on the OAS to intervene in the crisis after the Nicaraguan comptroller's office sent an impeachment request to the National Assembly last week, saying that Bolaños had refused to submit information on the origin of funds for his 2001 electoral campaign.

The opposition has enough votes in the National Assembly to impeach Bolaños, who says the affair is motivated by his own anticorruption campaign against top political leaders.

The OAS Permanent Council was briefed by the mission chiefs, Ambassador Aristídes Royo of Panama, who chairs the Permanent Council, and Luigi Einaudi, a retired U.S. diplomat and acting OAS chief. Einaudi said Nicaragua was in an ''extremely difficult situation'' and that the OAS presence there ``helped calm the waters.''

During their three-day visit, Royo and Einaudi met with opposition leaders, members of the Supreme Court and the comptroller's office, and discussed the dialogue idea with Bolaños. The idea is for international political figures to provide a ''supportive presence'' for the talks, Royo said.

Taiwan's aid to Nicaragua to continues, MOFA reports
Taiwan will continue to give aid to Nicaragua, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, in response to media reports that Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños had expressed concern over the issue.

The Spanish news agency EFE reported Thursday that Nicaraguan President Bolaños had said Taiwan has suspended its economic assistance to his country.

Michel Lu, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that all of Taiwan's cooperation projects are proceeding and that the MOFA has no intention of suspending any of them.

Lu said that the MOFA learned of Bolaños' concerns from the media report, but noted that Bolaños had not discussed the matter with Taiwan via official channels.

Liu said the decision on Wednesday by Legislature's Foreign Affairs Committee's to temporarily freeze foreign aid earmarked for the Taiwan's Latin America allies may have led to Bolaños' concern.

One day later, the Legislature reversed its decision and passed the foreign aid budget amid allegations of improper use of funds donated to some Latin American countries.

Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños, who may face impeachment on corruption charges linked to his 2001 campaign finances, allegedly received US$4.9 million in illegal campaign funds from Taiwan.

Both Bolaños and Taiwan have denied the allegation.

Taiwan provided US$171.8 million in aid to Nicaragua from 1997 to 2003.

Taiwan has also been accused of donating funds to the political campaign of former Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodriguez.

The MOFA on Thursday announced that it would establish a special committee to handle damage control with regard to the allegations.

Nicaragua leader accuses Sandinistas of coup plot
Nicaragua's president on Monday (October 18) accused opposition leaders, including the former head of the revolutionary Sandinista government, of plotting a coup to force him from office.

In a nationally televised address, President Enrique Bolaños said that 1980s-era Marxist leader Daniel Ortega was among the politicians behind a congressional corruption probe that could remove him from office.

"This is really a plot to carry out a coup d'etat," said Bolaños, who was surrounded by diplomats, government officials and hundreds of supporters.

The Central American nation's opposition-dominated Congress formed a committee last week to investigate charges by state prosecutors that Bolaños failed to disclose the source of funds during his 2001 election campaign.

If the charges are found to have merit, 56 out of 91 legislators in the single-chamber Congress could vote to remove the president.

A delegation from the Organization of American States arrived in Nicaragua on Monday to try and defuse the crisis.

The U.S. State Depatment issued a statement over the weekend supporting Bolaños and describing the probe as politically motivated and "based on dubious legal precedent."

Ortega was the leader of the Sandinista government that fought U.S.-backed Contra rebels during the 1980s, but lost power at the polls in 1990. He has lost three straight presidential elections.

Bolaños also singled out his predecessor and former ally, Arnoldo Aleman, who himself is serving a 20-year prison sentence on fraud and money-laundering charges.

Bolaños' party has turned his back on him since he led the drive to imprison Aleman and he now has the support of only 10 deputies in Congress.