politics

Panama paid for Ortega family trip

Panama's Cancillería, or ministy of foreign affairs, acknowledged yesterday that it did indeed use state funds to finance a trip made to this country by Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega.

The admission came after a wave a criticism of declarations made by Ortega that his trips outside Nicaragua, together with his family, had been paid for by the governments of Venezuela, Panama, Honduras, Cuba, Libya and Mexico.

"As a function of complying with the norms of protocol and reciprocity among states, Panama has the obligation to assume the expenses of officials who who travel to the country at the government's invitation as part of an official visit," the Cancillería stated to the press.

Ortega visited Panama on Sept. 3, 2007 for the inauguration of work on the expansion of the Panama Canal.

In Nicaragua, opposition leaders and others critical of Ortega have accused the president of violating the constitution and breaking laws pertaining to travel abroad with his wife, eight children, grandchildren and boyfriends of his daughters.