VARIOUS: Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega bounces back to power in presidential election victory

Nicaragua's former Marxist guerrilla leader Daniel Ortega bounced back to power on Tuesday (November 07) in a presidential election victory that bolsters an increasingly assertive anti-U.S. bloc in Latin America. Ortega won with 38 percent of the vote, 9 points ahead of his Washington-backed conservative rival Eduardo Montealegre. Ortega, who first seized power in a popular 1979 revolution and then fought U.S.-backed Contra rebels as president in the 1980s, was conciliatory in victory but the White House warned its support for Nicaragua would hinge on his commitment to democracy. The 60-year-old president-elect met Montealegre late on Tuesday and both promised to work together to attack poverty and encourage the investment need to create jobs. "We need to give Nicaragua a sign of stability, a sign that goes above all of our political stances and that the responsibility that we have, above all else, is to take Nicaragua out of poverty," Ortega said. Thousands of left-wing Sandinista supporters took to the streets to celebrate his triumph, setting off fireworks and waving black-and-red party flags. The poorest country in the Americas after Haiti, Nicaragua has never recovered from the civil war that killed 30,000 people and ruined the economy. Three pro-Washington governments that have ruled since Ortega was defeated at elections in 1990 did little to alleviate poverty and were hit by corruption scandals. From Cuba, a television news anchor read a letter written by ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro to Ortega. "Dear Daniel Ortega, the grand Sandinista victory fills our people with happiness and at the same time, fills the terrorist and genocidal government of the United States with fear," the news anchor read. "You and your people deserve the sincerest and warmest wishes. The North American people will have a lot of friends because fighting for a better world is to fight for hope for all people. Sincerely, Fidel Castro Ruz." While campaigning for his own elections, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez spoke with Ortega over the phone and congratulated him. "Sandino lives today like never before, in you and in all Nicaraguans and today the Sandinista Revolution and the Bolivariana Revolution they join together like never before to construct a future, the socialism of the 21st century," said a delighted Chavez, whose closest allies are Cuban President Fidel Castro and Bolivian President Evo Morales. Ortega's victory in a third comeback attempt was a huge boost for Chavez, who is trying to build a Latin American alliance of anti-U.S. leaders. Venezuela backed Ortega's campaign by sending cheap fertilizer and fuel to Sandinista-led groups. It is now expected to help finance social programs in Nicaragua. Some of Ortega's followers hope Chavez, rich with petrodollars, will help Nicaragua stand up to Washington. Ortega has dropped his Marxism of the Cold War era and now speaks mainly of God, peace and reconciliation. He also backs a trade deal with the United States, but U.S. officials still do not trust him and worry about his friendship with Chavez. Washington recently warned of a cut in investment and aid to Nicaragua if Ortega was returned to power, and some senior officials in President George W. Bush's administration have a long history of opposition to the president-elect. They include Elliott Abrams, who serves on the National Security Council and was a key figure in the Iran-Contra affair in the 1980s, when the U.S. government secretly sold arms to Iran to channel funds to the Nicaraguan Contra rebels. Ortega knows well the cost of confronting Washington. The Contra war and a U.S. economic embargo in the 1980s wrecked the Sandinistas' ambitious education and health programs. Combined with his Marxist government's mismanagement and heavy-handed repression of dissent, the U.S. campaign finally put Ortega out of power when voters turned against him in the 1990 election. Ortega was helped back to power by divisions in the right, which had in previous elections united behind a single candidate to keep him out.

ITN Source | November 8, 2006

Tags:. .wrecked. .deserve. .stability. .seized. .friendship