US Accuses Sandinistas of "Terror" Links source - JosePertierra@aol.com AP 10-05-01 9:08 PM EDT U.S.: Sandinistas Have Terror Links By FILADELFO ALEMAN Associated Press Writer MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) - U.S. officials warned Friday that the leftist Sandinista party, seeking to regain power in presidential elections next month, at one time had links to groups that "support terrorism." State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States would "respect the results of a free and fair vote that reflects the will of the Nicaraguan people" Nov. 4. "However, we have serious concerns about the Sandinistas' history ... of confiscating properties without compensation, destroying the economy and maintaining links with those who support terrorism," Boucher said in a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Managua. His remarks came after a Thursday meeting in Washington between Secretary of State Colin Powell and Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Francisco Aguirre. They represented Washington's latest and strongest warning about the possible return of a Sandinista regime. Aguirre, speaking to Radio Nicaragua on Friday, accused the Sandinistas of having been linked to rebels groups in Italy, Spain and El Salvador. Sandinista candidate and former Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega accused Nicaragua's current conservative government of trying to frighten voters. He said his party has abandoned the socialist policies and anti-American rhetoric of the past. "The foreign minister is left with nothing else to do but go around trying to divide people and invent things to confuse them," Ortega said. The U.S. government had previously voiced its opposition to the Sandinista's returning to power. Ortega is running neck-and-neck with conservative candidate Enrique Bolanos in polls ahead of the elections. In the 1980s, the United States organized and funded a decade-long proxy war by Contra rebels against the Sandinistas, who were voted out of power in 1989 elections. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-10.07.01-02:51:06-22590