Russian warships sail into Nicaragua political storm

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Ecuador considers buying Iranian weapons: president
Ecuador is looking into buying weapons from Iran to help its military secure the border with Colombia, President Rafael Correa said Saturday. "We have a very serious problem on the northern border, an irresponsible government (Colombia) that does not take care of its ... border" said the leftist Correa, speaking on his weekly radio and television address. "We need to equip ourselves," he said. Correa said that on his recent visit to Tehran he looked into buying Iranian weapons. "Iran can supply us and help us with credit," he said. The president emphasized that he cannot "allow that Ecuadoran sovereignty is violated again like on March 1." The reference is to a raid by the Colombian military on a remote jungle camp belonging to the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), located just across the border inside Ecuador. The raid killed more than 20 people, including FARC's number-two leader, Raul Reyes, as well as four Mexicans and an Ecuadoran. Quito expelled Bogota's ambassador on March 3 and both sides ordered thousands of troops to their common border. The leftist Venezuelan government of Hugo Chavez, an ally of Correa and a rival of conservative Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, also sent troops to its border with Colombia. Military tensions have since eased, but diplomatic relations have yet to be normalized between Quito and Bogota. "We cannot allow paramilitaries, guerrillas or whoever to cross into Ecuadoran territory; I cannot let Ecuadoran soldiers be killed or mutilated," Correa said. Quito plans to spend some 580 million dollars through 2011 on purchasing weapons, combat aircraft and military transports, Defense Vice Minister Miguel Carvajal told AFP in October. The equipment will be used mainly to improve security on the border with Colombia, officials said. The Organization of American States decried the March 1 Colombian raid as a "premeditated violation" of Ecuadoran sovereignty.

by Staff Writers
Managua (AFP) Dec 13, 2008
Three Russian warships anchored off Nicaragua's Caribbean coast Saturday, for a visit that has sparked heated debate in a country divided by disputed elections.

Leftist President Daniel Ortega claims he is authorized to approve the visit, but opposition lawmakers say the currently paralyzed legislature needs to approve visits by foreign military forces.

"We don't want to violate Nicaragua's laws. We only came on a friendship and humanitarian mission," Russian Ambassador Igor Kondrashev told local media after the ships, led by destroyer Admiral Chabanenko, dropped anchor off Nicaragua's coast.

The ships, with a total crew of 650, carried computers, electric generators, medicines and other donations for the impoverished Central American country and were due to stay until Monday, the diplomat said.

Ortega was due to visit the ships and welcome their commanders later Saturday at the Atlantic port city of Bluefields, a military spokesman said.

The visiting Russian naval officers, headed by Vice Admiral Vladimir Korolev, were greeted Saturday by the Russian Ambassador to Managua and Nicaraguan navy and army officers.

Nicaragua's congress was closed down on November 24 after the opposition proposed a bill to annul contested November 9 mayoral elections over fraud allegations.

Ortega on December 9 published an official decree announcing the arrival of the Russian fleet, without prior legislative approval, as mandated by the country's constitution, since Congress were not in session.

Congress' Justice Committee president Jose Pallais told AFP that Ortega acted "irresponsibly" and outside the law, adding that lawmakers reserved the right to summon him to a hearing to explain himself when they reconvene.

Ortega's duty was to "either send the decree to the National Assembly in a timely fashion so it could be ratified, or delay the (Russian) visit until such time it could be authorized," Pallais said.

Last week the Admiral Chabanenko became the first Russian warship to use the Panama Canal since 1944, after participating in joint exercises with the Venezuelan navy.

The maneuvers in the Caribbean -- a region traditionally seen as the US back yard -- have been seen as a rebuke for Washington's decision to deploy an anti-missile defense "shield" in eastern Europe and to send warships carrying aid to Georgia during that country's war with Russia in August.

After the war, Nicaragua became the only country other than Russia to recognize the independence of the rebel Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Ortega, who was a close ally of the former Soviet Union when he was president in the 1980s, is due to visit Moscow next week.

The visting Russian warships underscores Moscow's avowed support of the Ortega administration.

Ortega next week will make an official two-day trip to Moscow, where he will meet with President Dmitry Medvedev and review proposed development programs benefiting Nicaragua in the energy, mining, agriculture, transport and fishing sectors.

Russia's proposal to build a canal linking the Caribbean to the Pacific in Nicaragua will also likely be discussed during Ortega's Demcember 18-19 visit.

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Russian warship leaves Panama after historic visit

Panama City (AFP) Dec 11, 2008
A Russian warship left Panama Thursday after a historic five-day visit during which it crossed the Panama Canal for the first time since World War II and docked at a former US naval base, a Russian diplomat said.

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