2and2: Right-wing candidate wins in Nicaragua

putting 2 and 2 together

Q Ari, yesterday when I asked you about the results of the Nicaraguan election, you said that the results were not official. Well, now they're official, and Daniel Ortega has lost, Bolanos has won. What's the position of the White House, and what does President Bush think about it?

MR. FLEISCHER: And you got this yesterday from the State Department after the results were certified. But the President offers his congratulations to the winner of the election, and the President also views this as a healthy sign of democracy in Nicaragua. And the United States will continue to work with the democratically elected government there.

Q Any phone calls, Ari?

MR. FLEISCHER: No, the President has not made any calls to foreign leaders today. He had the meetings, of course, with President Chirac.

Q He didn't call Bolanos, did he?

MR. FLEISCHER: No, no phone calls made by the President.

Q Nicaragua is going through very difficult times. And this last storm, Michelle, caused enormous damage. Is the Bush administration willing to help Nicaragua, now that Bolanos has won?

MR. FLEISCHER: You may want to check with specifically at the State Department on any levels of cooperation directly with Nicaragua. But the President has, of course, said repeatedly that his interested in working well in our hemisphere, the importance of strong relations between the United States and nations -- and ally nations in Latin America, Central America, South America.

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Now, from Reuters:

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (Reuters) - Sandinista revolutionary leader Daniel Ortega conceded defeat in Nicaragua's presidential election on Monday and accused his old enemy, the United States, of a ``dirty campaign'' to prevent his return to power.

Ortega fell to a decisive defeat and blamed U.S. criticism of him ahead of Sunday's election for scaring voters, upsetting his chances of winning back the presidency 11 years after he was voted out of office.

``There was very strong interference from external forces; that undoubtedly tends to polarize the elections,'' Ortega said after results showed him trailing way behind his conservative rival, Enrique Bolanos, of the ruling Liberal Party.

Although the administration of President Bush had its hands full with the war in Afghanistan and anthrax attacks at home, it found time to rally against Ortega in the final weeks and days of the election campaign.

State Department officials openly questioned his democratic credentials and claimed he had links with supporters of terrorism, in apparent reference to Ortega's past ties with Libya's Col. Muammar Gaddafi and Iraq's Saddam Hussein.
[ED NOTE: that this article does not mention the past ties that the Bush family has had to Saddam Hussein]

Although Ortega said the Bush White House had ambushed his election campaign, he paid tribute to Nicaraguans who voted in huge numbers and promised to lead a loyal opposition force.

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Ortega has been the dominant figure in Nicaragua's tragic history since leading his ragtag guerrillas into Managua in July 1979, ending almost 50 years of dictatorship by the feared Somoza family.

The initial euphoria of the revolution turned Ortega into an icon of the international left and, when U.S. President Ronald Reagan's administration armed the Contra rebels, the Sandinistas cultivated the David-and-Goliath image of tiny Nicaragua standing up to an imperialist power.

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From the Associated Press:

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher declared the election a success even before Ortega conceded defeat.

``I think the massive electoral turnout demonstrates that the Nicaraguan people have once again shown their unwavering commitment to democracy,'' he said.

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Normally, the U.S. government professes neutrality in foreign elections, but there is no official fence-straddling this time.

The State Department has said implicitly that Ortega, 55, cannot be trusted to support the global anti-terrorist coalition that President Bush (news - web sites) has been trying to forge since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

After highlighting Ortega's ties to countries on the U.S. list of terrorist sponsors, the State Department said last month ``there is no middle ground between those who oppose terrorism and those who support it.''

The history of Ortega's relations with the United States is long and bitter. Alarmed that all of Central America might fall into the Soviet-Cuban camp, the Reagan administration financed anti-communist Nicaraguan rebels who battled the Sandinista army for nearly a decade.

The policy outraged many Democrats and was perhaps the most controversial American foreign policy venture during the 1980s. The uproar over Nicaragua ended with Ortega's defeat in 1990 presidential elections by a U.S.-backed moderate, Violetta Chamorro.

The Bush administration felt the need to speak out against Ortega a month ago to counter his suggestions that the United States had no problem with his candidacy.

Lately, however, the administration has toned down its comments in an effort to avoid charges that it is interfering in the elections as the balloting was about to begin.

Invited on Friday to comment, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher declined to enumerate administration grievances against the Sandinistas. He noted that U.S. aid helped finance voter registration in Nicaragua.

A month ago, Boucher was less reticent, saying the United States has ``serious concerns about the Sandinistas' history ... of confiscating properties without compensation, destroying the economy and maintaining links with those who support terrorism.''

Ortega has been running neck-and-neck with a conservative businessman, Enrique Bolanos, most of whose property was confiscated by the Sandinistas in the early 1980s.