Managua, Nicaragua - Nicaragua’s capital was bracing for large demonstrations Tuesday by the ruling Sandinista party and the opposition after supporters of President Daniel Ortega blocked an important highway through Managua, forcing opposition leaders to seek refuge in a church.

- Nicaragua will produce 21.4 percent less coffee for export in the 2008/09 growing season compared with the previous cycle, the head of the country’s exporters association said on Saturday.

Nicaragua sees the 2008/09 coffee harvest, which began this month, at about 1.3 million 60-kg (132-pound) bags, coffee exporter Jose Angel Buitrago told Reuters at an annual coffee conference in Costa Rica.

Nicaragua closed its 2007/08 coffee cycle in September with about 1.6 million 60-kg bags of exports, a 37.1 percent jump from the 2006/07 season.

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CARACAS, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) - Countries of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (Alba) rejected U.S. intervention in the Nicaraguan elections, according to a communique published Sunday in Venezuela.

“We strongly reject the U.S. intervention in the internal issues of Nicaragua and we reaffirm that past elections are of exclusive competence of the Nicaraguan People and their institutions,” Alba said in the communique published by the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry.

After an unprecedented victory by the Nicaraguan ruling party during the Nov. 9 elections, the Nicaraguan government confronted the U.S. interference policy, which tried to discredit the administration of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his institutions.

Meanwhile, a political dispute also took place over electoral results between the ruling party Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN) and opposition party Partido Liberal Constitucionalista (PLC).

“President Daniel Ortega, as well as the FSLN, have given examples of democracy, when contending at elections during the 1980s and peacefully giving the government to there successors,” Alba said.

The Alba member countries — Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaraguan, Honduras, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic — congratulated Ortega and the FSLN for the results of the elections, which consolidated the development of the people’s movements and leftists in Latin America.

“The peoples and the governments of the Alba ratify our most strong solidarity with the Nicaraguan People and we recognize the professionalism of the FSLN institutions,” Alba said.

By FILADELFO ALEMAN

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Nicaragua’s main opposition party said local elections swept by President Daniel Ortega’s leftist Sandinistas were fraudulent and on Tuesday demanded an international review of the results.

The government’s refusal to permit election observers from the Organization of American States and a prominent local group indicated a “premeditated intention to commit fraud,” said Constitutionalist Liberal Party spokesman Leonel Tellez.

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MOSCOW, November 1 (RIA Novosti) - Nicaragua, which joined Russia in recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, will have contact with the republics via Russia and later establish direct diplomatic relations, the foreign minister said.

Nicaragua is the only country other than Russia to have recognized the Georgian separatist republics. Russia recognized them on August 26, two weeks after its five-day war with Georgia that followed Tbilisi’s attack on South Ossetia.

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MINSK, Oct 31 (NNN-BELTA) — By intensifying relations with Nicaragua, Belarus will expand co-operation with the countries of Central and Latin America, President Alexander Lukashenko said at a meeting with Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos Lopez heer Thursday.

“We open a new page in the history of relations. not only with Nicaragua but with Central America in general. When developing trade and economic relations, we need to have a footing in that part of America not only to co-operate with your country but through you with the neighbouring regions,” he added.

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Blake Schmidt | 30 Oct 2008,

This is a column about a country that has scarcely been mentioned in the presidential campaign, that has disappeared from the American press and that has essentially been forgotten by Washington — which is the oddest part of the story. After all, two decades ago Nicaragua and its president, Daniel Ortega, inspired fierce passions.

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By Canadian Press.

Central Sun Mining Inc. (CSM) has stopped work on its Orosi gold mine in Nicaragua after an unnamed international bank failed to come through with financing.

Central Sun, already operating the Limon gold mine in Nicaragua, had earlier entered into a non-binding term sheet with the bank for $22.5 million to complete the Orosi project, on which it has spent $31 million to date and which was expected to be competed next spring.

However, “due to the current global financial situation, the banking institution was unable to proceed with the debt financing,” the company said.

It is “continuing active discussions with various other financial institutions,” but has “temporarily suspended” work at Orosi, acquired in July 2006 and being converted from a heap leach operation to a conventional milling system to increase gold recoveries.

The company “will implement various cost-cutting reductions throughout its activities, where necessary,” while continuing to operate the cash-flow-positive Limon mine.

“Central Sun has unfortunately been negatively impacted by the current financial situation,” stated CEO Peter Tagliamonte.

“We continue to work diligently to secure the required funding to restart and complete the Orosi mine expansion project. We are confident that we will be successful, as the Orosi mine project is very advanced with approximately six to seven months remaining to bring the mine back into operation at a production rate of 80,000 ounces per year.”

Central Sun stock declined two cents to 20 cents on the TSX, down from $2.50 last spring and representing a market value of $12.2 million.

By Richard Walden, Just ten years ago, tens of thousands of us sent help to victims of Central America’s worst-ever natural disaster — Hurricane Mitch. You may remember the terrible images we saw on television and in our daily newspaper: millions homeless, over 10,000 dead, lush agricultural fields washed away, even the collapse of a volcanic crater lake which flooded areas 20 miles away and buried alive a village of 2000 poor Nicaraguans.

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