Weekly Report -18 January 2005

For a very short while last week it looked as if resorting to international pressure had worked in favour of President Enrique Bolaños. A warning from the permanent council of the OAS was followed almost immediately by an agreement between Bolaños and Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega to subject to a consensus the controversial constitutional reforms curtailing presidential powers [WR-04-45]. Former president Arnoldo Alemán, currently in jail, later endorsed the deal - and the very next day the opposition reneged on it and ratified the reforms in the assembly.