AP Features, August 1st, 2007
The United States welcomed on Wednesday a suggestion by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega that he was open to a deal to rid his country of most of its shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, relics of the Cold War.
State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said he had seen press reports of Ortega's comments and did not think the Nicaraguans had made a formal proposal.
"Certainly if the Nicaraguan government wants to do so, I'm sure our officials there, as well as here, would be interested in hearing about it," Casey said.
In Managua on Tuesday, Ortega offered to exchange 651 Soviet-made SAM-7 surface-to-air missiles for military helicopters, surgical supplies and medicine from the United States.
"This won't be a gift, but simply a barter with them," Ortega said.
The requested medical supplies would be used to treat chronic illnesses caused by the American-made pesticide Nemagon used decades ago in by U.S. corporations that ran Nicaragua's banana plantations, Ortega said. He said the helicopters would be used against drug traffickers.
The State Department's Casey said it was important to derive from his comment that "we welcome the statements made by the Nicaraguan president that they're interested in being responsible in dealing with this issue and seeing that these weapons are eliminated."
He said Nicaragua had promised in 2003 to eliminate all their SAM-7s. They have destroyed about half of the 2,000 missiles supplied by the Soviet Union in the 1980s, when the United States was supporting Contra rebels against Ortega's leftist Sandanista government.
Ortega says his government would keep about 400 missiles if the swap could be worked out with the United States.
The question of the missiles last arose shortly after Ortega returned in January to the presidency that he held during the 1980s after the Sandanistas drove pro-U.S. dictator Anastasio Somoza from office.
The United States insisted in February that Ortega destroy the remaining Soviet-made missiles. Ortega said then that his country needed the missiles for defense, especially since neighbor Honduras was buying aircraft from the United States.
