Ortega Wins Nicaragua Presidential Race

Taken from Yahoo News, 08.11.06
By TRACI CARL, Associated Press

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Latin America's leftists welcomed the return of Daniel Ortega to Nicaragua's presidency, but rivals of the former Marxist who fought a U.S.-backed insurgency said Wednesday they would do everything possible to keep him from cutting ties to Washington.

Cuban President Fidel Castro', a key backer of Ortega's radical Sandinista government in the 1980s, sent congratulations published Wednesday on the front page of the Communist Party daily Granma, saying the Nicaraguan election "fills our people with joy, at the same time filling the terrorist and genocidal government of the United States with opprobrium."

On Tuesday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he and Ortega would be "uniting as never before" to construct a socialist future.

Ortega, however, has so far held to his campaign theme of reconciliation, indicating he hopes to avoid the fearsome hostility with the United States and the flight of local businessmen that marked the 11 years of Soviet-backed Sandinista rule after the leftist rebels overthrew a dictator in 1979.

Radical economic policies and the U.S.-financed Contra insurrection created economic chaos and killed 30,000 people.

Speaking with Eduardo Montealegre, who conceded defeat late Tuesday, Ortega talked of promoting stability while working to eliminate poverty in the Western Hemisphere's second-poorest country.

Now a balding 60-year-old, Ortega reassured investors he was open to business and promised to "create a new political culture" that would "set aside our differences and put the Nicaraguan people, the poor first."

"We are showing the country that things are stable, that we can set aside our political positions and put first our commitment to pull Nicaragua out of poverty," he said in a brief speech.
Ortega also has promised to try to maintain relations with Washington, while building a friendship with Venezuela and Cuba.

Montealegre told a local television show on Wednesday that he would use his party's strength in Congress — second only to the Sandinistas — to ensure that Ortega does not reject the United States and turn toward Chavez and Castro during his five-year term.

The Harvard-educated banker vowed to "use every connection I have to make the relationship with the U.S. work."

"We can't afford to give Ortega an excuse to let his only support be Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez," he said, adding: "I will become an important channel so he doesn't fall into Chavez's hands."

U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez', who previously warned against an Ortega win, said Tuesday that he was ready to work with the new Nicaraguan leader.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Ortega's vice president, Jaime Morales, a former Contra who was once one of Ortega's biggest enemies, said the first thing the new administration would do is "talk immediately with all the businessmen to maintain their confidence and reassure them that everything's fine."

With 91 percent of the votes tallied, Ortega had 38 percent of the votes compared to 29 percent for Montealegre. Under Nicaraguan law, the winner of Sunday's election must have 35 percent of the vote and a lead of 5 percentage points to avoid a runoff.

The victory capped Ortega's 16-year quest for his old job. After losing the presidency to Violeta Chamorro in 1990, he ran two consecutive, unsuccessful presidential campaigns.

"I'm happy that at last we have won," said 34-year-old Maria Rosario Ruiz. "I voted in the last two election, and we've finally won!"

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A nation steeped in blood and mayhem (by Jerome Taylor, Independent, UK
* 1937 General Somoza elected President, the start of a 44-year dictatorship ruled by the Somoza family.
* 1956 Marxist poet Rigoberto Lopez Perez sneaks into a party attended by General Somoza and shoots him in the chest. Perez is immediately gunned down but Somoza dies from his wounds two days later. His son Luis Somoza succeeds him.
* 1961 Using Sandino's 1930s guerrilla war as their inspiration, a group of broadly socialist revolutionaries set up the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) to combat Somoza.
* 1967 Luis Somoza dies and is succeeded as President by his brother, Anastasio Somoza.
* 1979 Lead by Ortega, Sandanistas topple the Somoza government in a popular revolution.
* 1982 US-backed, ring-wing Contra rebels begin a military campaign to oust the Sandanista government. Both sides commit numerous atrocities in a civil war that claims 60,000 lives.
* 1986 Nicaragua takes the US to the International Court of Justice. ICJ orders the US to pay $12bn in reparations for violating Nicaragua's sovereignty. US refuses to pay and withdraws from the ICJ.
* 1988 Peace deal signed with the Contras.
* 1990 As the economy spirals out of control, FSLN loses the elections to US-backed National Opposition Union.
* 1996 FSLN, still led by Daniel Ortega, loses elections for a second time.
* 2001 Daniel Ortega loses another presidential election, this time to Enrique Bolaños, who remains President to this day.
* 2002 Sandinistas re-elect Ortega as leader despite suffering three consecutive defeats since 1990.
* 2003 In a trial that grips a nation, former president Arnoldo Alemán is given 20-year jail sentence for financial fraud and embezzlement.
* 2005 Street protests erupt following widespread discontent at rising fuel and food prices.
* November 2006 More than a generation after he first swept to power, Daniel Ortega becomes the country's President once more.

Other Leftish Governments in Latin America (taken from AP)
• CUBA: Fidel Castro is the leftist polestar in Latin America. The only avowed communist leader in the hemisphere, he has been an antagonist of the United States since shortly after taking power in 1959. Now ailing, he has temporarily turned over power to his brother, Vice President Raul Castro, with little change of policy apparent.
• VENEZUELA: Hugo Chavez is Castro’s heir apparent as Washington’s chief regional foe, aided by personal charisma and his nation’s vast oil wealth. Chavez has cultivated hostile relations with the U.S. government and friendship with U.S. rivals such as Iran. He promotes socialism, but so far has avoided Castro-style shutdowns of the independent press, opposition parties or private business.
• BOLIVIA: Evo Morales, a socialist, former coca grower and the first Indian president of his Indian-majority nation, has repeatedly expressed skepticism of U.S. motives, clashed with Washington on issues of drug policy and forged close ties with Castro and Chavez. But he expresses less hostility to the U.S. government than either of them.
• BRAZIL: Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former labor leader who won re-election to a four-year term on Oct. 29, has pleased business leaders by veering toward the center on fiscal policy while expanding subsidies that have helped lift millions from poverty. He maintains generally good relations with both Castro and the United States.
• ARGENTINA: Nestor Kirchner, a center-left politician from a remote province in Patagonia, has leaned on Chavez for economic financing and sought closer ties with Latin American neighbors while avoiding Venezuela’s fiery confrontations with Washington.
• CHILE: Michelle Bachelet, a physician and former political prisoner, took office in March as the country’s second consecutive Socialist Party president. She calls for expanding social programs, but favors Chile’s free-trade pact with the United States.
• URUGUAY: Tabare Vazquez took office in March 2005 as the country’s first leftist leader. A physician and former mayor of Montevideo, Vazquez has promised to maintain orthodox economic policies while focusing on helping the poor.