U.S. Demands Nicaragua Destroy Surface-to-Air Missiles
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The United States insisted Monday that Nicaragua destroy hundreds of Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles after President Daniel Ortega said the weapons were needed for the country's defense.
Ortega, a former revolutionary who returned to the presidency on Jan. 10, said Friday it would be "absurd" to destroy Nicaragua's SAM-7 missiles while neighboring Honduras is adding U.S. planes to its military fleet. Nicaragua has been in a dispute with Honduras since 1999 over its territory in the Caribbean Sea.
The U.S. Embassy said in a media statement released Monday that Honduras is buying eight small planes from the U.S. to be used in the fight against drug trafficking and not offensive military aircraft.
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"The U.S. government expects that Nicaragua will continue its already established path of disarmament and destruction of all SAM-7 missiles," it said.
Nicaraguan officials have destroyed half of their initial stock of about 2,000 missiles and Ortega's predecessor offered to destroy 651 more.
The Soviet Union supplied the missiles at a time when Ortega's former leftist Sandinista government was an ally in Cold War-era struggles against the United States. The U.S. supported Contra rebels trying to overthrow the Sandinistas.
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U.S. officials say they fear the weapons could fall into the hands of terrorists.
Ortega's Sandinista party insists that the United States compensate Nicaragua for the missile destruction.