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July 21, 2011

Ortega Proposes Nicaraguan Referendum on $17B World Court Judgment From U.S. 
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Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is proposing a national referendum on
whether to demand the United States pay up the $17 billion owed under a
1986 World Court judgment that found the former Ronald Reagan
administration had committed unlawful aggression. The ruling centered
around the U.S. support for Contra militants who killed thousands of
people in trying to topple the Sandanista government. Nicaragua dropped
its demand for the United States to respect the judgment after a
U.S.-backed government came into office following a decade of economic
and armed warfare.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega: "Let the U.S. honour this debt and
not say they won't pay, as they have been saying in the past that they
won't pay. At least the yankee representative here has said they won't
pay. The President has not said it but the yankee representative here
has. I would like to propose that we call for a referendum so that the
Nicaraguan people decide if this debt between the Nicaraguan people and
the US government should be charged or not."



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