Monday 22 December
2008, San José, Costa
Rica
Panama Canal Gets Loan
For Expansion
Russia Hosts
Nicaragua’s Ortega, Rekindles Soviet-era
Alliance
Colombia Seeks 10
Kidnapped Peasants
Colombia Thanks
Venezuela For
Humanitarian Aid To Rain
Victims
Ten-Year Sentences
for Venezuelan Terrorists
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Russia Hosts Nicaragua’s
Ortega, Rekindles
Soviet-era Alliance
By Henry Meyer
(Bloomberg) -
Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev hosted
Nicaraguan President
Daniel Ortega at the
Kremlin as Russia
rekindles its Soviet-era
alliance with the
Central American nation.
Medvedev expressed
interest in
participating in a
Nicaraguan-proposed
project to build a canal
connecting the Pacific
and Atlantic Oceans to
compete with the Panama
Canal, Russian state
television reported.
“Our presence in Latin
America, our friendly
ties with key partners,
including Nicaragua, is
not a temporary trend,”
Medvedev said today in
Moscow after the
meeting. “It is
conscious choice, we
will develop these
contacts in all areas.”
Nicaragua is the only
country to have joined
Russia in recognizing
the independence of the
Georgian breakaway
regions of Abkhazia and
South Ossetia after a
Russo-Georgian war in
August. Ortega’s
revolutionary Sandinista
government was supported
by Soviet military aid
in the 1980s as it
battled U.S.-backed
Contra rebels.
Since the conflict with
U.S.-backed Georgia
provoked a rift with the
West, Russia has stepped
up efforts to bolster
its influence in Latin
America by courting
anti-American allies.
Russian warships last
week docked at a port in
Nicaragua after naval
maneuvers with the
Venezuelan navy.
During a visit earlier
this year to Managua,
Russian Deputy Prime
Minister Igor Sechin
said that Russia would
study plans to fund
offshore oil exploration
projects in Nicaragua.
Medvedev and Ortega
discussed cooperation in
energy, space and
agriculture, state
broadcaster Russia Today
reported.
Trade Ties
Trade turnover between
Russia and Venezuela
only amounted to $6.8
million last year, down
from $230 million in the
1980s, the Kremlin said.
Nicaragua, the
second-poorest country
in the Western
Hemisphere after Haiti,
has relied on the U.S.
as its largest foreign
donor since Ortega was
voted out office in
1990.
Ortega returned to
office in January 2007
on pledges to respect
private property and
reconcile the country’s
past divisions.
The U.S. threatened this
week to cut anti-poverty
programs if the
government doesn’t
resolve disputed
municipal election
results over the next 90
days.
Russia supported the
Nov. 9 election outcome
in Nicaragua, where
Ortega’s Sandinista
party won 105 of 146
mayoral seats amid
claims of voting fraud.
While Russia has
promised to restore its
role in Nicaragua, in
the current global
financial crisis Russian
energy firms are
unlikely to commit
resources to the
country’s unproven
reserves, Kommersant
newspaper reported
today, citing an
official at Russia’s
largest private oil
producer, OAO Lukoil.
Building a canal to
accommodate ships too
large to navigate
through Panama would
cost $20 billion,
according to a 2006
project put forward by
former Nicaraguan
President Enrique
Bolanos. The Nicaraguan
plan comes as the Panama
Canal Authority says it
has secured about half
the financing it needed
for a $5.2 billion
expansion project to
make room for larger
vessels, which is
expected to be completed
in 2014.
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