Friday 19 September
2008, San José, Costa
Rica
Venezuela Aid to
Nicaragua Is Missing, Lawmaker Says
Bolivia Conciliation
Talks Begin
World
Intellectuals Demand End
To U.S. Ban On Cuba
Brazilian President
Expresses Support For
Same-Sex Unions
Argentine Commanders
Dismissed For Corruption
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Venezuela Aid to
Nicaragua Is Missing,
Lawmaker Says
By Eric Sabo
MANAGUA - (Bloomberg) -
Nicaraguan opposition
lawmaker Victor Tinoco
said that millions of
dollars in Venezuelan
aid is going to
President Daniel Ortega
rather than the
country's poor.
Tinoco, of the
Sandinista Renovation
Movement, and other
lawmakers said that
Venezuelan aid stemming
from a deal brokered by
Ortega's party isn't
reflected in the
government's budget,
fueling suspicions that
the money is being used
to finance Sandinista
candidates in municipal
elections this November.
Ortega and his party
deny misusing the funds.
"here is tremendous
confusion,'' said
Nicaraguan economist
Ivan Garcia, who was the
director of the Economic
and Social Planning
Council under President
Enrique Bolaños, in a
telephone interview.
"Money is coming in and
we don't know how it's
being spent.''
Congress overrode
objections by Ortega's
Sandinista party and
ordered Finance Minister
Alberto Guevara to
testify today about the
aid. Guevara didn't
specify how much
assistance Venezuela
gives, and said that
some funds are donated
by the oil company,
Albanisa, a joint
venture between
state-owned Petroleos de
Venezuela SA and
Nicaragua's Petronic.
"Venezuela is the only
country helping our
people escape from
poverty,'' Guevara said
in his testimony.
Ortega, who credits
Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez with
preventing an economic
collapse, has given two
different accounts on
how much money the
oil-rich country donates
to Nicaragua, the
second-poorest nation in
the Western Hemisphere
after Haiti.
Ortega said on May 14
that Venezuelan aid
totaled $521 million
since his administration
returned to office in
2007. On July 19, with
Chavez at his side at a
speech in Managua,
Ortega said it was $206
million.
Nicaragua's Central Bank
reported this month that
both direct aid and oil
proceeds from Venezuela
totaled $185 million in
2007.
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