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CENTRAL AMERICA |
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Re-Election
Issue Divides Nicaragua
By Nick Caistor
MANAGUA -
A huge iron statue looms over the Nicaraguan
capital, Managua. It represents the figure
of Augusto Sandino, the 1930s national hero
who fought against what was seen as North
American imperialism.
It was Sandino whom the rebels of the
Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN)
took as their inspiration in the 1960s and
1970s in the fight against the dynastic rule
of Anastasio Somoza.
Their revolt was successful. In 1979 they
toppled the dictator, and set up a
revolutionary Sandinista government, led by
Daniel Ortega.
After a bitter civil war against the
Washington-financed Contra rebels, the FSLN
lost power at the ballot box in 1989.
It was not until 2006 that they returned to
government, when Mr Ortega won a second
five-year term as president.
President Ortega says that he is continuing
the 1980s revolution. All over the capital
in recent months, banners have been
proclaiming that this is the triumphant 30th
anniversary of the Sandinistas.
But his critics, many of them former
colleagues from his first government, see
things very differently.
"This is a dictatorship," says Ernesto
Cardena, the priest whom Pope John
Paul II publicly rebuked for being a
minister in the 1980s Sandinista government.
Father Cardenal will not say any more, as he
says he faces the threat of imprisonment.
But the vice-president during the first
Sandinista government from 1979-1989, Sergio
Ramirez, is ready to voice further
criticism.
"Ortega and his followers don't believe in
democracy. They see it as something that is
not necessary. What they want is to stay in
power at all costs, even that of destroying
democracy," he said.
'Blurring lines'
President Ortega's critics point to the
November 2008 local and mayoral elections,
when allegations of fraud were so widespread
that they led to the freezing of aid from
both the United States and the European
Union.
They also say that Mr Ortega has been
blurring the lines between his Sandinista
party and the state.
But what most disturbs the president's
opponents are his attempts to secure another
five-year term in office when his current
period ends in 2011.
On 19 October, Nicaragua's Supreme Court
removed constitutional obstacles to him
standing again as candidate. The move was
approved by the Supreme Electoral Council.
However, critics such as Carlos Chamorro, a
journalist who in the 1980s was editor of
the Sandinista newspaper Barricada, but is
now a fierce opponent of Mr Ortega, see this
as a dangerous move.
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