Byline: Combined wire services
The Bush administration, accusing President Ion Iliescu of leading Romania back down the road to repression and dictatorship, said Friday that it will drop the Bucharest regime from the list of emerging Eastern European democracies being considered for U.S. economic aid.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that Iliescu's use of truncheon-wielding miners to attack anti-government demonstrators "strikes at the very heart of Romanian democracy."
"Until the democratic process is restored, the United States has decided to withhold all ... economic support assistance that Romania might be eligible for," Boucher said.
The U.S. action will have little immediate impact on Iliescu's government because it has never received U.S. economic assistance anyway. But Boucher said that a future aid program had been under consideration.
Last month, Iliescu and his National Salvation Front won …
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