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Managua Nicaragua's veteran President Daniel Ortega claimed Thursday to have beaten back a US-backed"conspiracy"to topple his government, as he marked the 39th anniversary of the leftwing revolution that first brought him to power after days of lethal offensives against protesters.
"It has been a painful battle. Painful because we have confronted an armed conspiracy financed by internal forces we know and external forces,"he said.
He accused"the North American empire"of being involved in the attempted"coup d'etat,"alongside rightwing domestic business chiefs. The 72-year-old leader, standing by his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, and the foreign ministers of Cuba and Venezuela, addressed thousands of supporters waving flags of Ortega's ruling Sandinista party in a Managua esplanade. (AFP)
