US Bets on Nicaragua Polarization
An article by Colonel Oliver North, profusely published by the Nicaraguan press, is today another undoubted US attempt to divide Nicaragua a few days before the presidential and legislative elections.

In a column originally published in English by Human Events magazine, the military officer, who became a celebrity in the 80's for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal, made the US State Department responsible for an eventual victory of the Sandinistas.

"Unfortunately, US policy towards Nicaragua has been blind to Nicaraguan reality," North wrote, in reference to the support granted by Washington to liberal dissident Eduardo Montealegre.

According to the ex marine, "the bureaucrats with striped pants" of the State Department forgot that there are only two "important" parties in the Central American country: the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) and the PLC.

However, local analyst Aldo Diaz Lacayo said North's objective is not so much to foster the PLC candidate Jose Rizo s victory, as to hinder a first-round victory of the FSLN, the candidate of which Daniel Ortega heads vote intentions.

"In a possible second round, the United States would redefine its traditional polarization policy: Sandinistas against anti-Sandinistas," the expert predicted in declarations to the press.