Bolaños Asked to Explain Campaign Donations

MANAGUA (AFP) – Ex-president and leader of the Sandinista opposition movement in Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, on Tuesday demanded that President Enrique Bolaños shed light on his alleged participation in electoral crimes during the last electoral campaign.

“If we want stability (in the country), we need to create respect for the law, and most importantly, that you clear up and explain situations like this,” said Ortega, leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), during a meeting of supporters in Managua.

Ortega alluded to a denunciation made Tuesday in the newspaper La Prensa, according to which Bolaños and two members of his campaign team received approximately $350,000 from the Nicaraguan Democratic Front, a party linked to ex- President Arnoldo Alemán (1997-2002), found guilty of defrauding the state out of millions of dollars in public funds.

Bolaños and Nicaraguan Vice-President José Rizo were accused by the public prosecutor, at the end of 2002, of financing the electoral campaign of 2001 with illegal money, a denouncement the Supreme Court of Justice would process if Congress lifts the immunity of both.

Bolaños on Tuesday denied the La Prensa accusation.