U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) has urged the suspension of Millennium Challenge Corp. funding for Nicaragua in response to the Latin American country’s military occupation of an island in Costa Rica.
In a letter to MCC Chief Executive Officer Daniel Yohannes, Lugar said that Nicaragua violated the criteria of its five-year compact with MCC when it occupied Isla Calero in November and ignored the Organization of American State’s recommendation to leave the area, The Tico Times report.
MCC initially approved USD175 million for the Nicaraguan compact in 2005 but it froze USD64 million of the aid package in 2008 in response to allegations of fraud in the country’s mayoral elections.
The Tico Times says Nicaragua has received USD105 million from MCC so far.
