BY GLENN GARVIN

 MANAGUA -- Worried that his government may lose billions in foreign aid in a
 dispute over confiscated American properties here, Nicaraguan President Arnoldo
 Alemán has hired a high-powered Washington lobbying firm to woo hostile U.S.
 congressmen.

 It is the first time since Alemán took office 3  1/2 years ago that Nicaragua has
 retained a Washington lobbyist, and officials here confirmed that the government
 is seriously worried by a bill in Congress that would freeze not only aid from the
 United States but from international financial institutions such as the World Bank
 as well.

 ``The Gilman project has become very troublesome,'' a Nicaraguan official said,
 referring to the bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., that would
 halt U.S. aid and require Washington to use its veto power to block funds for
 Nicaragua. Gilman and a number of other U.S. congressmen have been angered
 over Nicaragua's failure to compensate about 800 American citizens whose
 property was confiscated by Nicaragua's Marxist Sandinista government during
 the 1980s.

 Gilman's bill has been gathering steam and a Senate version is expected to be
 introduced soon.

 To combat the Gilman bill, the Alemán government has retained the Carmen
 Group, a firm that has also worked for Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the giant Korean
 industrial group Hyundai.

 News that Nicaragua has hired a lobbyist did not sit well with some of the U.S.
 citizens who are pressing claims. ``Instead of spending a million bucks on
 Washington lawyers, they could use the money to compensate the people who
 lost property, and that would be a lot more honorable,'' said George Gagnon,
 whose wife is seeking millions for a family company confiscated by the
 Nicaraguan government.