MANAGUA (AFP) - Central American leaders asked the Organization of American States to stop Nicaragua's legislature from impeaching President Enrique Bolanos on corruption charges.
Guatemalan President Oscar Berger, Salvadoran President Antonio Saca and Honduran President Ricardo Maduro attended the special meeting at Managua's international airport.
The foreign ministers of Belize and Costa Rica attended, as did Panama's vice president.
Nicaragua's lawmakers have threatened to oust Bolanos over accusations of corruption linked to his 2001 campaign finances.
"We agreed to instruct the permanent representatives of the countries in the Central America System of Integration before the OAS to immediately convene the (OAS) Permanent Council to debate the threatening political and institutional situation" in Nicaragua, the representatives said in a statement read by Saca, who holds the rotating Central American presidency.
Bolanos faces stiff opposition from the Sandanista National Liberation Front and the Constitutionalist Liberal Party, which are seeking to have him impeached.