Weekly Report - 8 February 2007

It took less than one month for the first spat between President Daniel Ortega and the US: appropriately enough the catalyst was the Soviet-era Sam-7 missiles. Ortega this week warned the opposition in the national assembly, in no uncertain terms, not to proceed with its plans to destroy 651 Sam-7 missiles while Honduras "is busy procuring planes from the US". He said that he was loath to enter into an arms race but he would consider buying more missiles if Honduras decided to expand its air force. His words exposed the difficulties inherent in greater integration in Central America.