You Can't Keep a Good Sandinista Down

I ran across this story while listening to NPR this morning. I thought it was rather interesting but I am sure it’s only interesting to me.

Daniel Ortega the once sworn enemy of the Reagan administration is poised to win the presidential election in Nicaragua this year. Most of us remember the Iran-Contra affaire and the congressional hearings all be it vaguely well expect for Goose but I am sure he was to busy working on his night moves at the local drive-ins to be concerned with matters of nation security. Basically in a nut shell Ortega was the leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front. In 1982 the US government branded them leftist leaning terrorists. Then President Reagan went on national television and said that if the SNLF ruled Nicaragua the communists would have a base of operation in the south and would only be a two days march from the Texas Border. Wow, sounds like the same fear mongering stuff we here today.


The SNLF eventually took over in Nicaragua in the late ’80 after defeating the Contras. The Contras were of course backed by millions of dollars form the US and vast amounts of military and CIA help.

Daniel Ortega is older and wiser and just wants to help his people. The shadows of his past have helped him to reach out to many former Contras.Most Contras are now business owners and the wealthy elite. Ortega has vowed to work with everyone to build a better Nicaragua. The landscape of Central and South America is changing and sometimes the government doesn’t need to be a Democracy to work. The current administration is against an Ortega win which would provide another outspoken anti US leader along with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.