Weekly Report - 3 August 2004

As Nicaragua destroyed a second batch of SAM-7 missiles the commander of its army, General Javier Carrión, suggested that these could be the last to be disposed of unless two conditions were met: that the US should compensate Nicaragua with military assistance of another kind, and that the rest of Central America should actually embark on the reductions of their defence establishments foreseen in their commitment to a 'reasonable balance of forces' on the isthmus.