Nicaraguan Government Refuses to Hold Talks
The Nicaraguan government refused to return to talks with majority parties of the National Assembly to seek a solution for the domestic energy crisis.

Political parties such as the Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC), and Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, who acts as guarantor of talks, supported the proposal by Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) leader Daniel Ortega but the administration of President Enrique Bolaños said "there are no conditions."

Daniel Ortega called Bolaños, who has held the FSLN, the PLC and the Supreme Court responsible for the energy rationing, "to forget about demagogy" and search for a solution to the energy crisis.

He said they hoped a presidential delegation would join negotiations because "the country demands a prompt solution for the acute crisis."

The Executive made its return to the three-way talks conditional on the FSLN and the PLC ignorance of the Supreme Court ruling that ratified constitutional reforms, while Enrique Bolaños used a resolution of the Central American Court of Justice that delegitimizes constitutional reforms to justify his stance.

According to Presidential Secretary Ariel Montoya, "conditions are unfavorable" to restart talks.

Montoya called agreements between the FSLN and the PLC "a pact

" against the government.

The Treasury and Public Ministry proposed to approve an adjustment in the electricity charges without affecting the people consuming less than 150 kilowatts per month, and subsidize a portion of the Union FENOSA transnational´s debts to energy plants.

Sandinistas, the PLC and bodies of the National Consumers´ Defense Network condemned the increase in the electricity charges because it would raise prices and affect most Nicaraguans.