Nicaraguan Strikers Want to Talk with IMF
Physicians from Nicaraguan public hospitals, on strike for nearly two months in demand for salary increases, have said they will go to Washington if necessary to talk with the International Monetary Fund.

"There is a plan to see IMF representatives in Managua, but if we have to go to Washington, we will do it," leader of Pro-Wage Doctors Federation Elio Artola announced after leading a peaceful march to the Presidency of the Republic on Thursday.

The union leader accused the IMF of keeping the country in shackles by advising the government against granting a wage increase, as requested by social sectors.

We will tell the Fund to free government hands to meet civil society"s demands, because there cannot be social stability without wage stability, said Artola.

At the end of the march by more than 600 of the 3,000 doctors on strike, demonstrators presented a letter addressed to President Enrique Bolaóos, asking him to take part in the talks they are holding with the government.

The strikers demand a 140-percent wage increase. However, they are ready to accept half that this year and the remaining half by 2007.

The Ministry of Health (MINSA) argues it can only grant a 10-percent increase from the budget allocated by the government.

A negotiating committee, including the Pro-Wage Doctors Federation, MINSA and the Treasury Department, is expected to renew talks to try to solve the conflict.

Meanwhile, public hospitals are currently treating only emergency cases