MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Controversy in Nicaragua over contribution for ALBA development bank

President Ortega forced the resignation of Central bank chief Atenor Rosales

Nicaragua’s Central Bank President Antenor Rosales quit following a disagreement with President Daniel Ortega over the use of foreign currency reserves to fund a regional bank for the Venezuelan-led bloc of eight nations known as Alba, (Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas).

Ortega proposed that Finance Minister Alberto Guevara replace Rosales as head of the bank, according to lawmakers of the ruling Sandinista party.

At a February 4 meeting in Caracas, Ortega agreed with some other Alba leaders, including Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, to put 1% of their reserves, or about 17 million dollars, e of Nicaragua, toward the bank.

Rosales told reporters in Managua on Feb. 6 that no one should be allowed to use the international reserves of Nicaragua.

“The resignation of Rosales sends a bad message to the people of Nicaragua,” opposition legislator Wilfredo Navarro said in comments at the National Assembly broadcast on TV channel 100% Noticias. “He was defending the legality of the country’s central bank institution. Withdrawing funds for an unknown bank is a violation of the institution.”

The appointment of Guevara has been sent to lawmakers for approval, Edwin Castro, the chief legislator for the Sandinista party, said on a government website Thursday. Castro said Rosales’s resignation was “normal government procedure” and not a result of the disagreement with Ortega.

Venezuela is willing to transfer 300 million dollars to the new bank, Chavez said on state television Feb. 4. Alba members include Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Bolivia. Other members include the Caribbean islands nations of Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, St Vincent and Grenadines, plus Haiti, Surinam and St Lucia as ‘special guests’.

Chavez, who says he wants to eliminate the “dictatorship” of the US dollar, has promoted the expanded use of the sucre, a virtual currency created by the Alba bloc in 2009, for regional trade.