Nicaragua
Calls US Aid Cut 'Immoral'
(AP) Nicaragua is calling the United States'
cancellation of aid immoral.
The board of the Millennium Challenge
Corporation, a U.S. taxpayer-funded
operation set up by former President George
W. Bush to fight poverty, says it has cut
$62 million from a $175 million program for
Nicaragua because of problems in recent
elections.
Valdrak Jaentschke Whitaker, Nicaragua's
deputy foreign minister, says it is
"unethical, immoral and outrageous to use
aid for political blackmail."
Wednesday's cut follows a suspension in new
U.S. assistance last November after
municipal elections the opposition called
fraudulent. President Daniel Ortega has
defended the local elections, in which his
Sandinistas won a majority of mayorships. |
