Ortega: US Trying to Polarize Nicaragua
Nicaraguan presidential candidate Daniel Ortega accused the government of the United States of trying to divide Nicaraguan society pro and contra Sandinistas, instead of contributing to the reconciliation in the country.

The former president made the denunciation before a group of election experts from Latin American countries with whom he met in Managua Tuesday.

Ortega, who was President of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as head of a National Reconstruction Board, and later as elected President, said Washington´s interference in Nicaragua´s election campaign is increasing.

He said he favored the US expressing its sympathy for a determined Nicaraguan political force or candidate, but considered it intolerable that the White House is trying to discredit his political party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).

The US should be the first to respect the principles of the OAS Constitution, said Ortega, recalling that the FSLN was the first political force to bring democracy to the nation, and denounced that Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños committed a crime when he used state funds to proselytize politically.

Bolaños went to a convention of Nicaraguans living in the US last week, and there he reasserted his support to Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance candidate Eduardo Montealegre.

Neither Ortega nor Eden Pastora, leader of Nicaraguan organization Alianza para el Cambio, were invited to this convention.