NICARAGUA:Former Marxist guerrilla and cold war veteran Daniel Ortega returned to power in Nicaragua yesterday and celebrated another leftist election triumph in Latin America with US foe Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
Mr Ortega (61) was sworn in almost 17 years after voters, tired of a vicious civil war with US-backed Contra rebels, threw him out of office. The Sandinista leader won a November presidential election on promises to fight the hunger, poverty and corruption that previous free-market governments failed to end.
A beaming Mr Chavez, who gives economic aid to Nicaragua, Bolivian president Evo Morales and Mr Ortega held their hands up in a joint victory salute at a rally attended by tens of thousands of cheering leftists. Fireworks exploded in the night sky and Mr Ortega punched the air while delivering an emotional victory speech dressed in the blue-and-white presidential sash.
He called on the rich elite, which often does not pay taxes, to help drag Nicaragua out of the misery that makes it the second-poorest country in the western hemisphere. "Those who have enriched themselves most have to contribute so we can take Nicaragua out of poverty together," he said.
It was a remarkable comeback for Mr Ortega, who overthrew a dictator in 1979, led his country through war and a US blockade in the 1980s, was defeated in a 1990 election and was accused of sexually abusing a stepdaughter.
His wife, Rosario Murillo, stood by him and he weathered that storm. Mr Ortega has dropped many radical economic policies, saying he has learned from past mistakes like land expropriations. He promises reconciliation and makes frequent references to God. "He has changed and the world has changed," said supporter Julio Vado (48), carrying a large red-and-black Sandinista flag. He said Mr Ortega would be more successful as a peacetime president unimpeded by the menace of the cold war.
Mr Ortega insists he wants good relations with the US, and met US ally Felipe Calderón, the new conservative president of Mexico, yesterday. But his main friends in Latin America are Mr Chavez, Mr Morales and Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Mr Ortega said he would join a trade pact with Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela yet stay in the Cafta free trade deal between Central America and the US.
Mr Chavez further vexed Washington and Wall Street this week when he promised to deepen his leftist revolution by nationalising utility companies and seeking the power to rule by decree. In an effort to expand his influence, Mr Chavez has already sent cheap fuel and fertilizer to Nicaragua and he is expected to increase aid to Mr Ortega's government. But Mr Ortega's vice-president, Jaime Morales, told Reuters Nicaragua would not blindly follow Mr Chavez.
Mr Ortega first came to power in the 1979 revolution that toppled dictator Anastasio Somoza. Literacy and healthcare improved dramatically at first, but mismanagement and the war then plunged the country into years of economic chaos.
Memories of an authoritarian past linger. Geraldo Lira (28) recalled how as a young boy he saw older brothers dragged away by the army to complete obligatory service. "He [ Ortega] will have to do something good to clean his image for us to forget the 1980s," he said.