Nicaragua to Sell Basic
Foods at Fair Prices,
Ortega Says
Nicaraguan President
Daniel Ortega said his
country will sell milk
and other basic foods at
below market prices,
calling it "criminal''
that the poor could not
afford rising food
costs.
Ortega, speaking in
front of Sandinista
officials in Managua,
said that President Hugo
Chavez of Venezuela had
offered to build a milk
plant in Nicaragua and
would increase imports
of beans, corn and beef.
This would allow both
countries to sell the
items at below market
prices: Venezuela would
have a surplus of the
basic foods and
Nicaragua would use the
revenue from the
increased exports to
support below market
prices for those items.
Ortega said that
anything else would be
sold at normal prices.
"The free market is
criminal,'' Ortega said
in a televised speech
today. "Basic foods
don't reach those who
need them.''
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