WORLD IN BRIEF : NICARAGUA : U.S. Official Decries Sandinista Abuses

A senior State Department official said that Nicaragua’s government has embarked on “a clear pattern of abuses” designed to intimidate opposition political activists and voters before February’s national elections. John Bolton, assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs, said the political opposition has grown to represent a real threat to continued Sandinista power in Nicaragua, and the leftist government has responded with “tactics designed to discredit, confuse and intimidate the opposition and its supporters.”