Ortega Says Nicaragua May Reopen U.S. Talks
to Destroy Missiles
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Ortega Says
Nicaragua May Reopen U.S. Talks to Destroy
Missiles
By Ricardo Castillo Arguello
(Bloomberg) -- Nicaraguan President Daniel
Ortega said he’s willing to reopen talks on
destroying more than half of the country’s
SA-7 air defense missiles in exchange for
medical supplies, should the U.S. create the
proper “conditions.”
Ortega denied local media reports that he
already restarted discussions with U.S.
officials on Nicaragua’s stockpile of the
Soviet-era, shoulder-fired missiles, which
are capable of taking down a jetliner.
Nicaragua has 1,051 of the missiles, Ortega
said.
“We have not contemplated nor considered
signing any agreement whatsoever, simply
because the conditions have not been there,”
Ortega said last night at the President’s
office in Managua during a ceremony with
Nicaraguan Army officers.
U.S. officials have pressed Nicaragua for
several years to get rid of the weapons on
concern that they might fall into the hands
of terrorists. Previous talks with the U.S.
were interrupted by territorial disputes
between U.S. ally Colombia and Nicaragua,
while the U.S. and Nicaragua couldn’t agree
on the value of the missiles versus medical
equipment, Ortega said.
“This is not a gift to them, and they know
it, but they should also know we are well
disposed to talk about them,” Ortega said.
Ortega described the missiles as fire-ready
even after years of storage. He said the
government is prepared to destroy 651 of
them.
Aerial Defense
“They are safely kept under the army’s heavy
security, and we have made clear Nicaragua
will always keep 400 missiles for our aerial
defense,” Ortega said.
The SA-7 missiles are left over from the
civil war in the 1980s between the ruling
Sandinista National Liberation Front and
U.S.-backed Contra rebels. In 2003, former
Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños
promised to destroy the entire stockpile,
but was blocked by the National Assembly.
“The U.S. embassy is still committed to
dialogue on this important issue,” Kristin
Stewart, spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in
Managua, said in an e-mailed statement.
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