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Reid seeks U.S. aid in Nicaragua elections

Thursday, May 3, 2001 | 11:01 a.m.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has requested that the U.S. Agency for International Development help administer upcoming elections in Nicaragua to ensure fairness in the electoral process.

The offer comes after Reid met with a delegation of Nicaraguan military and community activists on Wednesday, a Reid spokesman said.

"Election assistance can help ensure that Nicaraguans interested in voting are registered and informed about voting procedures, and that the elections are as free, fair and transparent as possible," Reid said.

The delegation told Reid that they did not want to see repeats of mistakes made in the country's previous elections that resulted in corruption and violence, the spokesman said.

Marxist Sandinista guerrillas gained power in Nicaragua in 1979 after government manipulation and corruption resulted in a civil war in 1978. Through much of the 1980s the United States sponsored anti-Sandinista Contra guerrillas partially in response to the Nicaraguan government's aid to leftest rebels in El Salvador.

There were free elections in 1990 and 1996, and the Sandinistas were defeated in each case.

The U.S. agency helped to administer the 1996 elections, contributing $9 million.

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