Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is ready to work more closely with Washington on anti-narcotics initiatives, he told a visiting group of DEA and State Department officials Monday.
"We are seriously committed to the fight on drug trafficking because the poorer the country, the more easily it can fall apart," Ortega said at a meeting with DEA chief of operations Michael Braun, DEA regional director David Gaddis and Christy McCampbell, deputy assistant secretary of state for counter narcotics.
"Our goal is to turn a new page on our relationship with the U.S. and its institutions and agencies to strengthen this fight," Ortega added.
The U.S. officials were in Nicaragua for two days beginning Monday to evaluate the Central American nation's anti-narcotics effort, according to a U.S. Embassy statement.
The statement praised Nicaragua's National Police for anti-drug gains in 2007 and said the U.S. hopes to continue cooperating in training and equipment programs.
During Ortega's first run as president in the 1980s, the U.S. suspended all aid to the former Marxist and backed the Contra rebels trying to overthrow him.
Re-elected in 2006, Ortega has sought a more cordial relationship, promising to protect private property and foreign investment — although he is still at times outspoken in his criticism of Washington and has deepened ties with U.S. rivals such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
In comments broadcast on Nicaraguan radio, he underscored the importance of social programs in parts of the country plagued by drug crime.
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