Ex-official: Venezuela leader aided Sandinistas

A former vice president in Nicaragua's Sandinista government said Wednesday the movement received crucial financial aid to oust a dictator from Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez, who died Saturday.

Novelist Sergio Ramirez told the Managua newspaper La Prensa that Perez gave the movement more than $1 million to help the guerrillas topple Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979. (AP)