Posted on 11/26/2004 6:44:10 PM PST by NormsRevenge
MANAGUA, Nicaragua - In a deepening political crisis touched off by anti-corruption efforts, Nicaragua's congress has voted to give itself the power to ratify and dismiss Cabinet ministers and other officials.
The constitutional amendment, which was approved late Thursday and would have to be affirmed again in next year's legislative session to take effect, grew out of a power struggle between President Enrique Bolanos and the party that put him in office, the Liberal Constitutionalist Party.
Bolanos lost its support after his anti-corruption campaign landed the party leader and former president, Arnoldo Aleman, in prison, where he is serving 20 years for fraud and corruption.
Bolanos' spokesman, Lindolfo Monjarretz, warned Friday that the congressional vote has created a political crisis that endangers Nicaragua's fragile economy.
It also could bolster the Sandinistas, who governed Nicaragua in the 1980s as a Soviet ally in Cold War-era struggles with the United States. Although the Sandinista Front has lost the past three presidential elections, it remains the nation's most cohesive political force and has nearly enough votes in Congress by itself to block presidential appointments under the new rule.
The Liberals "are giving everything to the Sandinistas in exchange for Aleman's freedom," said Congressman Miguel Lopez, part of a Liberal breakaway faction loyal to Bolanos.
The National Assembly voted 74-7 for the amendment to require a 60 percent vote in the congress to ratify the president's nomination of any public official or diplomat. Such officials also could be removed by a 60 percent vote, and under some circumstances the congress could impose its own candidates.
Aleman is a patron of many Liberal lawmakers, and the party rebelled when Bolanos' new administration accused him of siphoning millions of dollars in government funds to Panamanian bank accounts. Earlier complaints of graft led several foreign lenders to suspend aid during Aleman's administration, which ended in early 2002.
Bolanos' anti-corruption campaign has drawn new foreign aid and debt relief to Nicaragua. Monjarretz, the presidential spokesman, said the congressional vote endangers that.
On Wednesday, European Union (news - web sites) Ambassador Kees Rade said aid cannot be given "to a country where there is an institutional deadlock."
Last week, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fisk visited to express concern about the conflict, and the presidents of Guatemala, El Salvador (news - web sites) and Honduras have warned that attempts to remove Bolanos from office could throw Nicaragua into crisis.
I see liberals are the same there as they are here: They think crooks are good things.
This sounds a great deal what the radical Congress did to President Andrew Johnson after the Civil War.
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