Nicaragua Politician Seeks Dario Poems
A Nicaraguan opposition leader is protesting President Daniel Ortega's gift of two poetry manuscripts to fellow leftist President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, demanding that Chavez return them.

Eduardo Montealegre, the conservative former presidential candidate of the Liberal Alliance party, told Radio Corporacion Saturday that the manuscripts by famed poet Ruben Dario are part of Nicaragua's patrimony.

Dario, who lived from 1867 to 1916, is one of Nicaragua's best-known poets, considered the father of the Modernismo movement.

"This gift should not have happened," said Montealegre, a Harvard-educated banker who lost the Nov. 5 elections to Ortega. "There are those who still criticize the Spanish crown for bringing us mirrors in exchange for our gold during the conquest. And now President Ortega is giving away more of our gold."

Venezuela's ambassador to Nicaragua, Miguel Gomez, told local media that the manuscripts "are in good hands" but Chavez could perhaps return them to the Central American nation.

No one was available for comment at the office of Ortega, who presented Chavez with the manuscripts in late February in Caracas during a visit to discuss a series of cooperation accords between the two countries.