Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega expressed disappointment in U.S. President Barack Obama's decision(CNN) -- Venezuela has promised to give Nicaragua $50 million to replace money that the United States said this week it would withhold from the Central American country, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega Saavedra said Saturday.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez promised the aid after Ortega learned that the United States was canceling $62 million of aid that was to have come from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S.-government-funded anti-poverty fund set up by former President George W. Bush.
Ortega expressed disappointment in President Barack Obama for the decision. "He expresses good will, but in practice, he has the same policies as President Reagan," Ortega told a crowd of supporters in Managua's Plaza of the Revolution.
In 1982, then-President Reagan supported funding the contras, the forces opposed to Ortega and his socialist Sandinista Party, which had come to power after overthrowing the U.S.-backed Anastasio Somoza in 1979.
Ortega called this week's decision not to follow through on the payment "disrespectful."
"The United States had given its word to the people of Nicaragua and in particular to the people of the cities involved in the program," he said.
Wednesday's decision to cut the funds altogether came after the United States announced last November that it was suspending aid to Managua in the wake of what it said were fraudulent municipal elections.
Ortega expressed disappointment in President Barack Obama for the decision. "He expresses good will, but in practice, he has the same policies as President Reagan," Ortega told a crowd of supporters in Managua's Plaza of the Revolution.
In 1982, then-President Reagan supported funding the contras, the forces opposed to Ortega and his socialist Sandinista Party, which had come to power after overthrowing the U.S.-backed Anastasio Somoza in 1979.
Ortega called this week's decision not to follow through on the payment "disrespectful."
"The United States had given its word to the people of Nicaragua and in particular to the people of the cities involved in the program," he said.
Wednesday's decision to cut the funds altogether came after the United States announced last November that it was suspending aid to Managua in the wake of what it said were fraudulent municipal elections.
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