Daniel Ortega and the Coming Election in Nicaragua

I was immensely happy when Anastasio Somoza fled Nicaragua in 1979. My earliest memory of him was a 60 Minutes profile in which the interviewer pointed out that virtually every government contract in Nicaragua was with a vendor owned by Somoza. Somoza's response was that he only regretted that he didn't have more businesses to supply jobs and goods to his nation (don't you just love those kleptocrat/altruists?).

I felt that our government had no business interfering in Nicaragua and I still believe that, despite whatever the Sandinistas may or may not have done. Given our nation's history in supporting the Somoza regime - both father and son - and given the level of suffering that Somoza caused, I was reluctant to criticize the Sandinistas, especially with Ronald Reagan as the Contras advocate. Mining another nation's harbors is an act of war. Funding an illegal war with the proceeds of arm sales to Iran in violation of the Boland Amendment (aka the law) certainly seems like an impeachable offense to me.

Nevertheless, I could never abide Daniel Ortega. I believe that what finally broke the camel's back for me was reading about him buying several pairs of expensive eyeglasses at a Madison Avenue boutique in October 1985 when the UN was in session:

After an eye examination, the Sandinista leader bought six pairs, at $300 apiece, of Silhouette frames with lenses made of polycarbonate - a sturdy plastic that is familiar to New Yorkers as the material used for many of the panels that protect taxidrivers and passengers from each other. ''It's indestructible, so it must be bulletproof,'' Mr. Cottington said, adding that the dark, conservative glasses gave Mr. Ortega ''the usual Wall Street look.''

Rosario Murillo, Mr. Ortega's wife, chose three pairs of Gucci frames, as well as three Fiorucci frames for the couple's daughter back home.

The bill was more than $3,500. Mr. Ortega paid with a Diner's Club card from the Nicaraguan Mission.

The piñata laws, in which the Sandinista elites were able to keep the houses they had expropriated passed as they were ceding power having lost the 1990 election was the last straw for me.

The alliance that Ortega forged with the corrupt criminal ex-President Arnaldo Aleman only demonstrates how truly venal Ortega is. Imagine Ronald Reagan and Paul Wellstone forming an alliance to cover their corrupt asses and you'll get the idea.

Now it appears that Ortega could become president again. As Marc Cooper noted here, the other tragedy here is that Herty Lewites, arguably one of the most decent and honest politicians in Nicaragua died last summer. All we can do know is think of what could have been.

Comments

[Slave Revolt]

Lewites was prepared to swallow the whole neoliberal enchilada. He consorted with rabid rightwing anti-castroites in Miami.

Don't leave it to white gringos to secure justice for Latin American people.

How's that Hitchens working for ya?

[Randy Paul]

Alguem peidou aqui? Tem cheiro de pum. . . .

[wronski]

Tem gente que não tem noção...

[Randy Paul]

Pois é. Nós chamos estas pessoas trolls.

[Nick Matyas]

Very nice posting and I like it. I hope others will like it also.

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