MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) -- Former
                  President Violeta Chamorro, who ended the
                  Sandinista era in Nicaragua, says she will not
                  try again for the presidency in this year's
                  elections.

                  "I am not going to get involved in politics, nor
                  am I going to launch any candidacy," she said
                  in a recorded interview broadcast Thursday by
                  Managua radio stations.

                  Chamorro's 1990 election ended a decade of
                  rule by the leftist Sandinista Front and the
                  continuous conflict with the United States during that accompanied it during the
                  1980s. Chamorro left office in January 1997.

                  Local news media have suggested that she might again be a candidate for a
                  center-right coalition in the November 2001 election, but she said no party has
                  approached her.

                  "Although I don't want to see the country go backward like a crab, I am not
                  going to involve myself in anything," she said.