Washington to negotiate
with Nicaragua on
missile proposal
The United States is
willing to discuss
Nicaguara's offer to
hand over shoulder-fired
anti-aircraft missiles
in exchange for U.S.
military and hospital
supplies, and talks
should begin shortly,
the U.S. ambassador said
Thursday.
On July 31, President
Daniel Ortega offered to
exchange 651 of
Nicaragua's 1,051
Soviet-made SAM-7
missiles for helicopters
and medical goods. He
said the medicine would
be used to treat banana
workers made ill decades
ago by a U.S.-made
pesticide and the
helicopters would help
fight drug traffickers.
"Washington has
responded that it is
willing to discuss this
issue. Evidently,
nothing has been decided
but we are going to
start the negotiations
in the coming weeks,"
U.S. Ambassador Paul
Trivelli told reporters
Thursday during a trip
to Nicaragua's Caribbean
coast.
U.S. officials have been
trying to reduce the
global stock of such
missiles, fearing that
they could fall into the
hands of terrorists.
Trivelli said the U.S.
government still hasn't
received a formal
proposal from Nicaragua
and the talks would be
to determine the U.S.
response to the proposed
swap.
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Lawmakers from all four
political blocs in
Nicaragua's National
Assembly expressed
support for the proposal
on Wednesday, but said
Ortega should seek
legislative approve
before authorizing any
missile deal.
Last week, U.S. State
Department deputy
spokesman Tom Casey
welcomed Ortega's
proposal.
Casey said Nicaragua had
promised in 2003 to
eliminate all of its
SAM-7s and it has
destroyed about half of
the 2,000 missiles
supplied by the Soviet
Union in the 1980s, when
the United States was
supporting Contra rebels
against Ortega's leftist
Sandanista government.
Ortega says his
government would keep
about 400 missiles |
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