Nicaragua likely to give Ortega another chance

The Independent (U.K.) ^ | 11/03/2001 | Jan McGirk

[Pokey78]

The leader of the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, is within reach of winning back the presidency in tomorrow's elections despite attempts by the United States to stop its old nemesis.

Mr Ortega's opponent, Enrique Bolaños from the centre-right Liberal Party, received an endorsement from Jeb Bush, Governor of Florida and the American President's brother, in a full-page advertisement that ran in national newspapers this week. "Daniel Ortega is an enemy of all that the United States represents," Jeb Bush asserted. "And he is also a friend of our enemies."

Mr Bolaños, 73, insists: "The evidence is in his own words. Ortega always touts his connections with the 'anti- imperialists'."

Oliver Garza, the American ambassador, handed out food parcels to hungry peasants while Mr Bolañossmiled magnanimously on stage – and Mr Ortega was pointedly uninvited to the event.

When Mr Ortega was doing well in the opinion polls last month, Washington warned of its "grave reservations" over Sandinista ties to countries it accused of supporting terrorism, such as Cuba and Libya. A blitz of blatantly negative campaigning, featuring Osama bin Laden as a would-be Sandinista supporter, has pushed the Liberals ahead for the first time by three percentage points in the latest Gallup poll – statistically insignificant but psychologically powerful.

The 12 per cent of Nicaraguan voters who were still uncommitted when campaigning closed will decide the winner.

Anxiety over a possible deterioration of Nicaragua's economic relations with America might turn the tide, and the Liberals have not hesitated to play up those fears. The impoverished country, reeling from a plunge in coffee prices, can ill afford cuts in American aid or investment. At $6.6bn (£4.5bn), Nicaragua's foreign debt is more than 10 times its annual export income of $600m. More than 70 per cent of Nicaragua's five million citizens live in poverty.

Mr Ortega, 56,has twice been defeated for the top position since leading the country between 1979 and 1990 after toppling the dictator Anastasio Somoza. But he takes pains to show that his Marxist past is behind him. Peace and love slogans stress his new evangelical Christian leanings, and he pledges to create a million jobs and to root out corruption.

Mr Ortega even promises to return confiscated property belonging to hundreds of American citizens if elected. Two decades ago, US-financed Contra forces fought Mr Ortega's Soviet-backed Sandinista government, convulsing this small Central American nation in a civil war that cost 30,000 lives.

Agustín Jarquín, Mr Ortega's running mate, announced: "We don't live in the past, and we have a firm commitment to the fight against terrorism."

[DoughtyOne]

Note who is termed liberal here. Those who oppose the Sandanistas are now liberal. Ha ha ha ha. The press NEVER gives up! Sandanistas are the socialist slash communist party. Are they now the conservatives? Give me a break!

[Pokey78]

Jim Wright (is he still alive?) will be dancing a jig at the inauguration.

[Numbers Guy]

TITLE: Nicaragua likely to give Ortega another chance

Quote from inside: A blitz of blatantly negative campaigning, featuring Osama bin Laden as a would-be Sandinista supporter, has pushed the Liberals ahead for the first time by three percentage points in the latest Gallup poll

In other words, the title doesn't match the story. Nah, the press isn't biased or anything . . .

[monocle]

Chavez and now maybe Ortega? We better start looking over our shoulder.

[boomop1]

DemocRats have never met a communist they didn't like.

[afuturegovernor]

The Liberal Party is the right of center party. The word "liberal" in this sense mean the support of open markets and capitalism, not the America meaning of "liberal." The Liberal Party opposes the socialist-communists in Nicaragua.

I guess it is like Germany where the Christian Democrats are actually the conservative party. (The Social Democrats are the Germans left wing party.)Names can be tricky in politics.

[gedeon3]

'Liberal Party' or 'Partido Liberal' is the name of the party. The former Nicaraguan Dictator was the head of the Liberal party. There are actually 2 liberal parties. One is called 'Partido Liberal Independiente'or Independent Liberal Party, and the other is called 'Partido Liberal Nacionalista', or Nationalist Liberal Party. The Nicaragua Liberal party is not a left wing party. The sandinistas, as well as all lefties like Hillary Clinton, keep saying that they do not live in the past, but are moving forward. What a joke.

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks for pointing out my error there. Whoops. Heh heh he... As Emily Latella used to say, "Nevermind."

[DoughtyOne]

Ed Asner too. In fact I think Martin Sheeeeeeeen was also enthralled with Ortega, if I'm not mistaken.

[gedeon3]

MANY SO CALLED 'CELEBRITIES' HAVE AT LEAST MORAL SUPPORT FOR THIS CRIMINAL. IF HE WINS, I FEEL FOR NICARAGUANS WHO ARE FREEDOM LOVERS. THE ONES WHO LOVE THE SANDINISTAS ON THE OTHER HAND, CANNOT WAIT TO GET THEIR BLOODY HANDS ON THE PIE, AGAIN.

[backhoe]

A little history:

Assignments
... Search Terms: Contras; Sandinistas; US intervention in Nicaragua (or Central America);
Somoza; Reagan administration and Nicaragua; FSLN (Frente Sandinista de ...

Untitled
... their villages. Steadman Fagoth and the other contras said that the Sandinistas believed
all Miskitos were in revolt and were coming to punish them. Largely as ...

M20
... Contras, Sandinistas. Nicaragua. SA-7, Blowpipe, Redeye.
Various warring factions. Bosnia-Herzegovina. ...

52%
	Sandinistas  (open window)    []  Sandinistas, members of a left-wing Nicaraguan political party, the Sandinist National Liberation Front (FSLN). The group, named for Augusto Cesar Sandino, a former insurgent leader, was formed in 196...		40%		Nicaragua  (open window)    []  No Summary Available