MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) -- Ex-guerrillas marched alongside retired army
                 generals and conservative leaders Sunday, as more than 2,000 people took to
                 the streets to call for the arrest of former President Arnoldo Aleman for his
                 role in a corruption scandal.

                 "We will continue these kinds of civil protests until the ex-president is in jail," said
                 Eden Pastora, a former guerrilla commander who became famous when he led the
                 Sandinista seizure of the National Palace in 1978. "This is not personal, it is instead
                 a fight against a string of corruption Aleman personifies."

                 Marching nearby, former Conservative Party presidential candidate Ernesto Saborio
                 said the protesters were "striking a direct hit in the battle against Arnoldo Aleman's
                 effort to build a civilian dictatorship."

                 "He will be held accountable for what he did while in office," Saborio said.

                 Aleman, who left the presidency in January and now heads the National Assembly,
                 or congress, testified Saturday in a growing scandal over $1.3 million that was
                 allegedly misspent during a deal to modernize state-owned Channel 6.

                 The case centers around an allegedly irregular contract between Channel 6 and a
                 Panamanian company, Servicios Integrales Casco, which was representing
                 Mexico's TV Azteca. The October 2001 contract was apparently signed without a
                 bid process and those involved have testified that Nicaraguan officials made
                 payments via hand-delivered checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars made out
                 to companies other than Casco.

                 Aleman has denied wrongdoing, saying he gave two key advisers total control over
                 the ill-fated deal. He and his family left Nicaragua to spend the Easter holidays in
                 Greece late Saturday.

                 With a scorching afternoon sun overhead Sunday, Joaquin Cuadra, the former head
                 of this country's army, said the fight against corruption was one of the few things
                 that could unite the military with its former Sandinista foes.

                 "In Nicaragua corruption has a symbol and that symbol is named Arnoldo Aleman,"
                 said Cuadra, who now heads the small United National Party.

                 The scandal surrounding the Channel 6 deal is not the first time Aleman has faced
                 corruption charges. The former president stopped filing financial disclosure forms
                 several years ago after his declared wealth rose from $26,000 to beyond $900,000
                 during his first seven years as a public employee.

                 C ritics note Aleman has properties he failed to include even in those financial
                 reports, and claim his holdings now reach into the tens of millions of dollars.
                 Aleman has denied corruption and says the claims of wealth are exaggerated.

                  Copyright 2002 The Associated Press.