Posted on 10/11/2005 6:12:42 PM PDT by Stultis
A power struggle had threatened the government and US aid to the country.
The pact was reached between Mr Bolanos and the left-wing Sandinista leader, Daniel Ortega.
They agreed to delay constitutional reforms which weaken the president's powers until next year, when Mr Bolanos leaves office.
The move comes after the Organisation of American States warned that Nicaragua's democracy was under threat.
Last week, the US deputy secretary of state, Robert Zoellick, threatened to cut off aid if the opposition continued to work against Mr Bolanos.
Prosecution
The Nicaraguan president, who took office in 2002 after a landslide victory over Mr Ortega, had claimed he was the innocent victim of a pact between the Sandinistas and his own Liberal Party.
The Liberals turned against him - and joined forces with former rivals the Sandinistas - angered by the government's decision to prosecute party leader Arnoldo Aleman for corruption.
Former president Aleman is serving a 20-year sentence for fraud and money-laundering, but he still commands the loyalty of many of his party's legislators.
The Nicaraguan Congress - controlled by both Liberals and Sandinistas - has been debating a proposal to impeach Mr Bolanos for alleged campaign finance violations.
The legislators have already stripped six of Bolanos' ministers and three senior officials of their immunity from prosecution.
The president had denounced what he say is a "slow-motion coup" in Nicaragua.
MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos and Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega have agreed to postpone controversial constitutional reforms, easing a political crisis that the United States called a "creeping coup."
U.S. ally Bolanos has been under pressure from dissidents in his party and leftist Sandinistas to accept reforms that would weaken him by giving Congress jurisdiction to name officials to some influential posts.
Bolanos said after a six-hour meeting on Monday night with Ortega, a Cold War adversary of Washington who ruled Nicaragua during a 1980s civil war, that the reforms would take effect in 2007, after he finished his five-year presidential term.
"All the constitutional reforms are frozen," he said.
Bolanos' government has been crippled since his right-wing Liberal Party sided with its former head, ex-President Arnoldo Aleman, who was convicted of money laundering and other crimes committed during his 1997-2002 term.
Visiting Nicaragua last week, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick warned of the threat to Nicaraguan democracy from a "creeping coup" by Aleman and his unlikely ally Ortega.
The alliance between Aleman and Ortega, who is favored to win elections in late 2006, now controls the judicial and legislative branches of Nicaragua's government.
The United States supported Contra rebels against Ortega's left-wing government in the 1980s. Ortega has lost the last three presidential elections, but U.S. officials worry he could return to power next year.
That would strengthen a growing trend of Latin American nations electing leftist presidents critical of Washington.
Now, can Jackson Browne be far behind?
Paging Colonel North...
Please pick up the white courtesy phone.
Please... no thanks.
North was an screw-up, too incompetent or lazy to practice basic security procedures, and hugely gullible (taken in by fairly mediocre con-men). Let's not even go into his handling of bank account numbers. Not withstanding his opposite (and good) intentions, he damaged our efforts in the 80's more than most Democrats.
I know this view isn't popular or common among conservatives, but I don't care. I'm just glad Ollie is no longer in government service. As a light/human-interest newsman he's fine.
Very bad news ... Chavez is giving all the other leftists hope for resurgence, and shows the way to strangle democracy.
yuck.
The USA gives aid to Nicaragua and it's Marxists?
Tax payer funded aid?
Oy chihuahua
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