Nicaragua opposition hits
supreme court extensions
MANAGUA (AP) - The opposition Liberal
Constitutionalist party accused President
Daniel Ortega of usurping power Wednesday by
issuing a decree extending the terms of two
Supreme Court justices whose terms have
ended.
The two justices are sympathetic to Ortega's
leftist Sandinista party. Ortega has
depended on the highly politicized court for
rulings like one by pro-Sandinista justices
in October that overruled constitutional
term limits to allow Ortega to run for a
second consecutive term.
The opposition party said in a statement
that Ortega's decree represented "a coup
against the country's governmental
institutions."
"The president does not have the authority
to name justices," the statement said. "The
legislature does."
The two justices' terms ended Sunday. Ortega
later issued a decree extending their terms,
arguing that "the justice (system) cannot be
paralyzed."
Efforts in the country's congress to name
new justices have been stymied because
neither of the two parties have enough votes
to elect their nominees.
One of the two justices, Rafael Solis, told
reporters, "We are not leaving today, nor
tomorrow, not this week or this month, until
the National Assembly names new justices."
Also Wednesday, Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez, a close ally of Ortega, arrived in
Managua. Chavez said he was going to sign
several agreements in the framework of
Venezuela's aid to countries in the region.
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