MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- President Daniel Ortega says Venezuela has offered Nicaragua $100 million in aid if Washington and the European Union cut off funding over disputed elections.

Ortega says his leftist ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez made the offer last week ``without blackmail, without conditions of any sort.''

The U.S. government said last week it would freeze $64 million in anti-poverty aid to Nicaragua amid accusations that local elections were fraudulent. The EU has withheld $54 million in budget support.

Ortega spoke Monday in a televised address.

Ortega's leftist Sandinistas won most of the country's mayorships in the Nov. 9 elections. The opposition proposed legislation to cancel the results, but Ortega issued a decree declaring that effort unconstitutional.

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@