Nicaraguan opposition leaders rebutted as "a smokescreen" and "a senseless adventure" President Hugo Chávez's proposal to organize a joint armed force comprising the member countries of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), Efe reported.

The plan "is a huge smokescreen" of President Chávez and endorsed by his Nicaraguan counterpart Daniel Ortega, "given the incapacity to rule for the poor," said Eduardo Montealegre, of opposition Alianza Liberal Nicaragüense party (ALN).

Montealegre, the first runner-up in the vote where Sandinist Ortega was elected, said Chávez's proposal is not serious. "All they want is people to deviate their attention from the real problems facing Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Cuba (member countries of ALBA), where people are hit by misery, hunger and lack of medicines."