Return of the SANDANISTA!

[Che Guava]

Daniel Ortega is back, and poised to take Nicaragua!

Ortega close to comeback in Nicaragua election

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (Reuters) - Nicaraguans voted for a new president on Sunday with former Marxist guerrilla Daniel Ortega in with a strong chance of returning to power despite opposition from the United States, his Cold War enemy.
Sixteen years after he was thrown out of office by voters tired of a vicious civil war with U.S.-backed Contra rebels, the mustachioed Sandinista leader was ahead of conservative rivals in opinion polls in his third comeback attempt.

Although Ortega has toned down his leftist rhetoric since the 1980s, Washington worries he will team up with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban President Fidel Castro in the anti-U.S. bloc of Latin American leaders if he wins.

U.S. officials have warned that U.S. aid and investment could drop under a new Ortega government.

Still, many Nicaraguans are frustrated by the failure of often corrupt pro-market governments to fight poverty and about a third support the 60-year-old Ortega, who first seized power in a 1979 revolution against dictator Anastasio Somoza.

"I'm going with Ortega. He is the only one who looks out for the poor. All the others are just for the rich," said William Medina a 44-year-old lawyer standing in line to vote at a Managua polling station.

On the other side of a bitter divide, conservatives remember the rationing, hyperinflation and hard-line policies of Sandinista leaders whose alliance with the Soviet Union and Cuba helped turn the country into a Cold War battleground.

"Ortega scares us. He is a danger," said Carolina, a 32-year-old chemical engineer who waited to vote at a school on the outskirts of Managua. "It is very difficult to believe he has changed with friends like Chavez and Castro."

Voting was due to end at 6 p.m. (7 p.m. EST/midnight GMT) with preliminary results expected hours later. Thousands of observers, including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, monitored polling.

A beautiful land of tropical rain forests, volcanoes and lakes, Nicaragua is the second-poorest country in the Western Hemisphere after Haiti

WAR DESTROYED ECONOMY

It was wrecked by the war that claimed 30,000 lives and by a U.S. embargo against the Sandinistas. Although the economy has stabilized under three straight conservative presidents, 8 of 10 Nicaraguans still live on $2 a day or less.

"Three governments have done nothing for us. You lose hope," said Feliciano Jiron a 42-year-old selling oranges outside a polling station in the small town of Sebaco, where voters sheltered under umbrellas from a hot sun.

Ortega's main challenger is wealthy former banker Eduardo Montealegre, a fan of late U.S. President Ronald Reagan who trained and financed the Contra rebel army.

There are five presidential candidates. They need 40 percent of the vote, or 35 percent and a 5-point lead, to win outright on Sunday and most opinion polls put Ortega close to that.

But Ortega, a divisive figure who was once jailed for robbing a bank to fund the revolution, will struggle to win a runoff if he falls short in the first round.

The right is split between Montealegre and rival conservative candidate Jose Rizo but is expected to unite to defeat Ortega in any second round.

A coffee exporter with a population of 5.1 million people, Nicaragua is the latest stage for a fight between the United States and Venezuela's Chavez for regional influence.

Opponents complain Chavez effectively bought votes for Ortega by sending cheap Venezuelan fertilizer and fuel to Sandinista-affiliated groups.

Sandinistas counter that Washington has scared voters away from Ortega and is unfairly backing Montealegre.

Ortega says he has changed and won the support of former Contra leaders upset that conservative governments have done little to help veterans and widows from their side in the war.

A Spanish-language version of the John Lennon song "Give Peace a Chance" blasted out at his campaign rallies, where he promised reconciliation and policies to help the poor.

"Poverty is going to disappear in Nicaragua by us loving each other and practicing solidarity," he told tens of thousands of supporters at his final campaign rally this week.

linker

Looks like there might be another place setting at Chavez's dinner table

In my humble opinion, Nicaragua could do a lot worse...

 

[De Lorimier]

Let's bring back the Contras and bring democracy and freedom to Nicaragua, US style!

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

"Poverty is going to disappear in Nicaragua by us loving each other and practicing solidarity."

Awww.... it's so sweet!

He sounds like another crazy Latin America country leader.

 

[Trajan12]

Well lets see wheres the list of enemies again, here it is! N-i-c-a-r-a-g-u-a- done!

 

[amadeus]

I pray that the Nicaraguans are smarter than to fall for this guy.

 

[Urederra]

Sorry for the nick picking but it is Sandinista.

I wonder where the smart nicaraguans would migrate if he wins, USA or Europe.

Oh... They never learn.

 

[North King]

Oh yes, because Capitalism has done so much for Nicaragua.

 

[Che Guava]

My appologies for the spelling error...

It doesn't seem like Nicaraguans did too well with thier past choice of presidential candidates of political parties (from what I have read, corruption has been absolutely atrocious), so I could understand if they want to give someone on the other side of the spectrum a chance...

 

[Urederra]

My appologies for the spelling error...

I was going to open a thread about Nicaragua. (j/k)

It doesn't seem like Nicaraguans did too well with thier past choice of presidential candidates of political parties (from what I have read, corruption has been absolutely atrocious), so I could understand if they want to give someone on the other side of the spectrum a chance...

It seems to me that having a goog judicial system is more important that the color of the government in charge. I'd rather live in a socialist country with a good judicial system (meaning little corruption) than in a corrupt country ruled by the right wing. O vice versa.

 

[Che Guava]

True. Fortunately, the fate of the courts won't be decided by this election...

 

[luiz]

Oh yes, because Capitalism has done so much for Nicaragua.

It sure did more than Socialism.

Furthermore why can't Nicarágua become another Costa Rica, Trinidad e Tobago or Panama? Are nicaraguans inherently inferior?

 

[Evie]

Becauare comparing governments that could focus on economic and social and whatever stuff with a government that had to cope with a US-backed insurgency is in any way, form, or shape a fair comparison.

(Not that I expect the socialists to do much good for Nicaragua ; I just like me some intelectual honesty)

 

[Esckey]

I find the threat of a new Axis of Evil(as I've heard it called by some people now) in South America totally laughable.

 

[amadeus]

Becauare comparing governments that could focus on economic and social and whatever stuff with a government that had to cope with a US-backed insurgency is in any way, form, or shape a fair comparison.

Nope, just Soviet and Cuban agitatiors being shipped in from Moscow and Havana.

 

[Elta]

The real problem with nig a row-a is that they pronounce it nig a row-a. If they would only get rid of that comical accent every thing would be good there. *




*To other Spanish speakers don't act like it's not funny. - only in Nicaragua can you turn ?que? into ?thue?

 

[Trajan12]

The real problem with nig a row-a is that they pronounce it nig a row-a. If they would only get rid of that comical accent every thing would be good there. *




*To other Spanish speakers don't act like it's not funny. - only in Nicaragua can you turn ?que? into ?thue?

Huh, Im not that good yet.

 

[Eiba]

U.S. officials have warned that U.S. aid and investment could drop under a new Ortega government.

Opponents complain Chavez effectively bought votes for Ortega by sending cheap Venezuelan fertilizer and fuel to Sandinista-affiliated groups.

Sounds like a fun election...

 

[Elta]

Huh, Im not that good yet.

Just wait till you meet someone from there - If you ever meet a latino guy who you think is gay ask him where he is from it's a 50/50 chance that he is from Nicaragua. - It's a cute accent on the girls thou.

 

[Babbler]

Former enemies

Mr Ortega knows that he has to convince a large number of Nicaraguans to get the 40% of the vote required by law to be declared outright winner.

If he fails to reach that percentage, he needs at least 35% of the vote and a 5% margin over the nearest other candidate.

The Sandinista leader, now 61, has made unlikely alliances with some of the groups that fought against his government in the 1980s.

His running mate, banker and former Contra leader Jaime Morales, is the original owner of the house where Mr Ortega and his wife Rosario now live.

It was confiscated by the Sandinistas when they were in power.

Mr Ortega has dropped the red and black colours of the Sandinista flag in favour of pink and has asked for forgiveness for what he describes as his mistakes.

No return

He often talks about his Christian beliefs - and he and his wife were married in church after many years of living together.

Recently, the Sandinista Front voted in Congress in favour of a total ban of abortion.

Many critics say that the transformation of Ortega and his party amounts to nothing more than political opportunism.

Image or substance, the truth is that if he is elected, he is unlikely to return to the revolutionary path of his government in the 1980s.

Interesting...

 

[amadeus]

Oh yes, because Capitalism has done so much for Nicaragua.

is right, but not for the reasons you might think.

Nicaragua, compared to it's neighbors and overseas, was doing pretty well until Ortega took over. Nicaragua's GNP fell by over 30% in the first year under the FSLN (Sandinistas) and declined steadily until the mid-1990s, when after Ortega had been removed from power and the new government was able to finally pursue decent economic policies.

If Nicaragua and President Somoza had been frozen in time from before Ortega and was unfrozen today, Nicaragua would be some 200%+ better off economically.

Now imagine what could have been if Nicaragua had also been allowed those additional 20+ years of progres.