Daniel Ortega
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Daniel Ortega Saavedra (born 11 November 1945) was President of Nicaragua from 1985 to 1990, during the Sandinista government, and is currently the leader of the Sandinista party.
Ortega was one of several leaders of the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional in its guerrilla war against Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle. After Somoza's forces were defeated in July 1979, he became a member of a five-person Junta of National Reconstruction that also included Sandinista militant Moises Hassan, novelist Sergio Ramírez Mercado, businessman Alfonso Robelo Callejas, and Violeta Barrios de Chamorro. After Robelo and Chamorro resigned from the junta, the Sandinistas under Ortega's leadership became undisputed heads of the new government and undertook a radical program for economic transformation and reconstruction of the war-torn country. Parts of the Sandinista program were inspired by the Fidel Castro's socialist system in Cuba, while other parts were modeled after social democracies in Europe. As initial tensions with the U.S. mounted, the junta began to follow a clear pro-Soviet line.
Though much of the Sandinista platform was supported by the nation's large poor population, there were also allegations that the new government actively suppressed political dissent and violated human rights. The Nicaraguan constitution was suspended, and freedom of the press was curtailed, in response to perceived threats of political subversion threatening the new government. Peasants, particularly those in the highlands, took umbrage at perceived Sandinista arrogance; some rebelled after the Sandinista authorities attempted to relocate them into state-owned farming cooperatives.
Ortega's ambitious program of land reform was also subject to criticism, and it was alleged that Sandinista leaders used their power for personal advantage.
Shortly after coming to power the new regime lobbied extensively for arms from around the world, mainly focusing on what Ortega described as the "socialist community" which he felt would be sympathetic to the Sandinista agenda. Significant amounts of arms were in turn provided by Algeria and the Soviet Union.
In November 1984 Ortega called national elections and won the presidency with 63% of the vote, taking office on January 10, 1985. The results of the election were rejected as fraudulent by the United States but upheld as free and fair by NGOs allowed into the country by the Sandinistas. Frightened by the notion of a Soviet proxy state in Latin America, the U.S. under the Reagan administration supported anti-Sandinista Contra rebels operating out of Honduras and Costa Rica and, in early 1984, illegally mined Nicaragua's harbours. These actions caused much controversy in the United States, and out of these events developed the Iran-Contra Affair and the Nicaragua v. United States judgement of the International Court of Justice.
Although the Contras were never able to win militarily inside Nicaragua, by 1990 the U.S. strategy of low-intensity conflict, which combined Contra guerrilla attacks with domestic sabotage and a continual trade embargo, left Nicaragua economically devastated and politically polarized. The Sandinistas' decision to implement conscription in order to fight the war was unpopular, particularly amongst youth. In Nicaragua's 1990 elections, Ortega was defeated by a former junta member, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, who led a 14-party anti-Sandinista alliance, and was succeeded by her on April 25, 1990.
He stood for election again in October 1996 and November 2001, but lost on both occasions. His loss in the 2001 election can be attributed to a number of factors: allegations of corruption made against him in relation to the last days of his government in the 1980s, and allegations made by his stepdaughter, Zoilamérica Narváez, that he sexually abused her. He continues to lead the Sandinista party to this day, which holds 43 seats in the Nicaraguan Parliament, making it the second largest party.
| Preceded by: Junta of National Reconstruction | Presidents of Nicaragua 1985-1990 | Succeeded by: Violeta Barrios de Chamorro External link
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