U.S. diplomats accused Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's government of taking bribes from drug traffickers in exchange for freeing suspects, in cables released by Wikileaks.

The bribes formed a kind of "judicial 'campaign finance' machine" in return for not-guilty verdicts, according to a May 5, 2006, cablefrom the U.S. Embassy in Manangua, Nicaragua. It says the ruling Sandinista party regularly accepted cash from drug traffickers, "usually in return for ordering Sandinista judges to allow traffickers caught by the...