Weekly Report - 23 January 2014 (WR-14-03)

NICARAGUA | New central bank president. President Daniel Ortega has revived concerns about interfering in State institutions, with his decision this week to fire the head of Nicaragua’s Central Bank (BCN), former finance minister, Alberto Guevara, replacing him with the Bank’s number two, general manager, Ovidio Reyes. Ortega failed to give reasons for his decision to replace Guevara but local opposition daily, La Prensa, linked it to Guevara’s “alleged excesses”, such as his insistence on staying in lavish hotels.