Nicaragua`s Ortega vows close U.S. ties
Daniel Ortega returns to Nicaragua`s presidency a shadow of the fiery revolutionary who in Cold War times vowed an endless fight against a U.S. government determined to overthrow him.

Balding, weakened by heart trouble and often appearing almost docile, he now preaches reconciliation and stability, and promises to maintain close ties with the U.S. and the veterans of the Contra army it trained and armed against him.

He has traded his wartime military fatigues for a white shirt and jeans. His guide, he says, is God, not Karl Marx.

The United States and his rivals worry the Sandinista revolutionary in him will resurface, as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban leader Fidel Castro welcome him into a club of leftist leaders fighting American dominance in the region.

But Ortega, who was president in 1985-90, the height of the Contra insurgency, says he has traded war for peace, love and consensus.

His victory speech late Wednesday was tinged with some of his old fire. Raising his arms in victory, he led thousands in a rendition of an old revolutionary song: "The people united will never be divided."