Nicaragua's President
Applauds Obama
President Daniel Ortega,
who once was swept into
power by a Soviet-backed
Marxist movement in
Nicaragua and later came
back through popular
election, said that US
Democratic presidential
candidate Barack Obama
is a "revolutionary
phenomenon" in US
politics.
Speaking at one of
Nicaragua's
universities, President
Ortega said "It's not to
say that there is
already a revolution
under way in the U.S.
... but yes, they are
laying the bases for a
revolutionary change".
Moreover, the Sandinista
leader said after
receiving an honorary
doctorate, that he has
"faith in God and in the
North American people,
and above all in the
youth, that the moment
of great change in the
U.S. will come and it
will act differently,
with justice and
equality toward all
nations."
Ortega also expressed
the hope that an Obama
presidency would give
voice to the aspirations
of millions of citizens
of Mexico and Central
America who have
"silently invaded" the
US, even though some
polls show that Latino
voters currently lean
towards Senator Hillary
Rodham Clinton's
candidacy.
The Sandinista leader
condemned economic
policies of the US and
the Group of 7 saying
that they contribute to
unemployment in Latin
America and the flight
of labor. Latin
Americans are "fleeing
the policies of the free
market and exclusion
that the empire imposes
on poor countries and
upon those that in its
judgement would promote
significant changes in
the North American
system".
In addition, Ortega
explained away the fact
that several members of
Nicaragua's military are
receiving training at a
US military facility
once known as the School
of the Americas.
Now known as the Western
Hemisphere Institute for
Security Cooperation and
located at Fort Benning,
Georgia, the facility
has drawn the ire of
critics of US foreign
and military policy who
regularly conduct
sit-ins and protests at
the Institute.
The US has admitted that
some of the Latin
American graduates of
the Institute are
alleged to have engaged
in torture during the
Cold War years. Ortega
said that he expected
that the current
Nicaraguan students at
the students would not
become "torturers and
killers."
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