U.S. Cold War Foe May Be Poised To Make a Stunning Return to Power
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The former leader of the left-wing Sandinistas in Nicaragua and one of America’s most reviled Cold War enemies, Daniel Ortega, appears to be on the brink of making a spectacular comeback.
Twenty years after his Sandinista government fought a bitter civil war against American-funded “Contra” rebels, he is leading in the polls for the presidential elections on Sunday.
But now he has “found God” and talks of “peace and love,” not Marxist-Leninist ideals. In a final frenzy of campaigning, the podgy, balding 60-year-old is spreading what he calls a “spiritual revolution,” “full of love and hope” around this country, the second poorest in Latin America, after Haiti.
“Thanks to God, the Supreme Creator, whose message always was for the Nicaraguans to love each other,” he shouted to a euphoric crowd in the Laureles Sur barrio slum of Managua. “We want work and peace,” he went on, holding his arms up like an evangelical preacher.
On his third attempt to win back power after losing it to conservatives for the past 16 years, Mr. Ortega is offering himself as “the solution” for almost every walk of Nicaraguan life. Without explaining how, he promises to provide jobs, improve human rights, and turn Nicaragua into the most developed country in the region.
Several indigenous communities who were forced to flee during his 1979 to 1990 government, Contra fighters who fought a bitter civil war against the Sandinistas and members of the Catholic Church, which he once accused of collaborating with the CIA, have all been “converted” and now openly support the man they once hated.
“Ortega is just saying whatever he can to every group, to win their votes,” a sociologist, Sofia Montenegro, said.