ready to say whatever people want to hear. He has no scruples."
"Man that turns me on...If he were a she I'd consider mowing the lawn"!
Posted on 10/30/2006 10:57:31 PM PST by MadIvan
Daniel Ortega, the former leader of the Left-wing Sandinistas in Nicaragua and one of the United States' most reviled Cold War enemies, appears to be on the brink of making a spectacular comeback.
Twenty years after his Sandinista government fought a bitter civil war against American-funded ''Contra" rebels, he is leading in the polls for the presidential elections on Sunday.
But now he has ''found God" and talks of ''peace and love" not Marxist-Leninist ideals. In a final frenzy of campaigning, the podgy, balding 60-year-old, is spreading what he calls a "spiritual revolution", "full of love and hope" around this country, the second poorest in Latin America, after Haiti.
"Thanks to God, the Supreme Creator, whose message always was for the Nicaraguans to love each other," he shouted to a euphoric crowd in the Laureles Sur "barrio" slum of Managua. "We want work and peace," he went on, holding his arms up like an Evangelical preacher.
On his third attempt to win back power after losing it to conservatives for the past 16 years, Mr Ortega is offering himself as "the solution" for almost every walk of Nicaraguan life.
Without explaining how, he promises to provide jobs, improve human rights and turn Nicaragua into the most developed country in the region.
Several indigenous communities who were forced to flee during his 1979 to 1990 government, Contra fighters who fought a bitter civil war against the Sandinistas and members of the Catholic Church, which he once accused of collaborating with the CIA, have all been "converted" and now openly support the man they once hated.
"Ortega is just saying whatever he can to every group, to win their votes," said Sofia Montenegro, a sociologist and the director of Cinco a Managua-based think tank. "There is nothing left of the revolutionary man. Now it is just pure opportunism. He is a political pendulum, ready to say whatever people want to hear. He has no scruples."
As the vote approaches, Washington has made clear its discomfort.
"We've made clear we want to have a close, positive, constructive relationship with Nicaragua, and up to this point that's been reciprocated," Thomas Shannon, the assistant Secretary of State, told Newsweek.
"I'm not sure that would be the case with Daniel Ortega."
Human rights campaigners, including Nicaraguan-born Bianca Jagger, have warned that Ortega's human rights record is far from squeaky clean. He is accused of presiding over "disappearances" and imprisonment of thousands of political opponents.
While large numbers, perhaps even the majority of the 5.5 million population, are against Ortega, their vote is likely to fragment among four different parties, giving the Sandinista leader a chance of a victory in the first round of voting. Under a recent change to electoral law, a party wins if it secures 35 percent of the vote, with a five percent lead.
"He is going to win, thank God," said Arodys Villega, 54, a diedhard Sandinista supporter whose son died aged 15 fighting against the Contras. "Until now we have had democracy only for the bourgeois. The poor have remained poor. Daniel will change that. Nicaragua is going to be blessed by him."
Uh huh. And when is Ortega going to start doing time for the rape of his step daughter?
Anybody who believes a single word this monster says, deserves whatever Ortega serves up.
When the contras won, the US packed up and left them to their own troubles. Their country was a wreck. It's not much better today. The best thing they have going now is tourism and ex-pats buying land. That will dry up if Ortega comes back.
FYI Ping
Then this is the object lesson for the RATS and anyone else who wants us to just get of out Dodge.
So what's he doing trotting around with Hugo Chavez? Hugo Chavez has censored the Catholic Church -- and they are fighting his regime with everything they've got.
Expect to see President Peanut hot-foot it down there to hastily declare Ortega the winner and the election legitimate. Another communist dictator puppet-feather in ol' Jimmah's cap.
disturbing ping
That thug Ortega should have been terminated with extreme prejudice 20 years ago.
"Man that turns me on...If he were a she I'd consider mowing the lawn"!
I wonder if Kerry will support Ortega this time around? Now that Ortega is claiming he's pro life (LOL), maybe Kerry will find his views repugnant.
Jimmah Cahwattah! Call your office!
He'll say whatever seems right at the time to support his old buddy, then later deny he said it. I wondered the exact same thing, btw, LOL!
I'm going to go the other way on this. I think the man actually found Jesus when the Communists abandoned him after what Reagan did.
Many of these leaders were awestruck by the power, money and influence that Communism brought them. I think that Castro is the last of the true Communists.
Ortega ran in elections and became part of the political process. Granted he lost because his country rejected the ideology he once supported. The Church is a powerful thing.
Use Reagans motto on this one. "Trust but Verify"
He sounds like the Dems here in the US running for election
You're right .. Where is the Nut Carter these days?
In Iraq, we haven't done anything yet to get them back to work on a large scale. Ergo, a few malcontents screw everything up.
Agreed. Solidly. Concretely. Aggressively. Adamantly.
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