Ortega, US discuss destroying most of Nicaragua's surface-to-air missiles

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A US government team is evaluating Nicaragua's proposal to destroy hundreds of Soviet-made missiles in exchange for hospital equipment, authorities said on Tuesday. President Daniel Ortega met the leader of the US delegation, John Feeley, head of Central American affairs at the US State Department, shortly after the Pentagon team of US hospital administration specialists arrived Monday for a 10-day review of Nicaragua hospitals to see what medical equipment was needed. The US government has long pressured Nicaragua to destroy the shoulder-fired SAM-7 anti-aircraft missiles as part of a global effort to eliminate weapons that could fall into the hands of terrorists. Nicaragua has already destroyed about half its original stockpile of 2,000 missiles and it is offering to destroy 651 of the remaining 1,051 SAMs in exchange for "modern medical equipment and medications," Ortega's office said in a press statement.