President of Nicaragua

Jose Daniel Ortega Saavedra (born 11 November 1945) is the current president-elect of Nicaragua. For much of his life, he has been an important leader in the Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional or FSLN). After a popular rebellion resulted in the defeat and exile of Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979, Ortega became a member of the ruling junta and was later elected president, serving from 1985 to 1990. His period in office was characterized by socialist policies, hostility from the United States towards his government, and armed rebellion by U.S.-backed Contras. Ortega was defeated by Violeta Barrios de Chamorro in the 1990 presidential election, but he remained an important figure in Nicaraguan politics. He was an unsuccessful candidate for president in 1996 and 2001 before winning the 2006 presidential election.

Personal Life

Early years

Ortega was born to a middle-class family in La Libertad, department of Chontales. His parents, Daniel Ortega and Lidia Saavedra, were active in opposition to the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle, and he was arrested for his own political activities as early as age 15. In 1963 he attended the University of Central America in Managua and quickly joined the then-underground FSLN. He married Rosario Murillo and they have seven children.

Member of the FSLN

By 1967, he became a leader in the FSLN, in charge of the urban guerrilla campaign, but shortly after that he was arrested for bank robbery. He remained in prison until 1974, when he was released in exchange for hostages held by the FSLN. He immediately visited Cuba, a major source of aid for the Sandinistas, and returned to his role as guerrilla commander.

The Sandinista Revolution (1979-1990)

Junta of National Reconstruction

When Somoza was overthrown by the FSLN in July 1979, Ortega became a member of the five-person Junta of National Reconstruction, which also included Sandinista militant Moises Hassan, novelist Sergio Ramirez Mercado, businessman Alfonso Robelo Callejas, and wife of a journalist Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (associated with the newspaper La Prensa). The FSLN came to dominate the junta, Robelo and Chamorro resigned, and Ortega became the de facto ruler of the country.

In 1981, U.S. President Ronald Reagan condemned the FSLN for joining with Soviet-backed Cuba in supporting Marxist revolutionary movements in other Latin American countries such as El Salvador. His administration authorised the CIA to begin financing, arming and training rebels, some of whom were the remnants of Somoza's National Guard, as anti-Sandinista guerrillas collectively known as the Contras. The resulting civil war claimed an estimated 30,000 Nicaraguan lives.

In November 1984, Ortega called national elections; he won the presidency with 63% of the vote and took office on January 10, 1985. While most international observers [2] declared the election to be free and fair, many opposition parties boycotted it, and it was denounced as being unfair by the Reagan administration. The Contra insurgency continued.

Post-1990

In the 1990 presidential election, Ortega lost to Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, his former colleague in the junta. Chamorro was supported by a 14-party anti-Sandinista alliance known as the National Opposition Union (Union Nacional Opositora, UNO), an alliance that ranged from conservatives and liberals to communists.

Ortega ran for election again, in October 1996 and November 2001, but lost on both occasions. In these elections, a key issue was the allegation of corruption. In Ortega's last days as president, through a series of legislative acts known as "The Pinata", estates that had been seized by the Sandinista government (some valued at millions and even billions US$) became the private property of various FSLN officials, including Ortega himself. It is also alleged that Ortega appropriated national bank funds for his personal account. In reference to these allegations, critics often call Ortega "Pinatin".

In 2001, the allegations of corruption against Ortega were somewhat overshadowed by those against Arnoldo Aleman, who defeated Ortega in 1996 and was still president in 2001. However, Ortega was then confronted with other scandals. His stepdaughter, Zoilamerica Narvaez, made public allegations that he sexually abused her in 1998. As a member of the National Assembly, Ortega claimed parliamentary immunity from prosecution at a court hearing on June 28, 1998. He claimed that the allegations were nothing more than an attempt to undermine support for the Sandinista Front. Entities in the United States, most notably Jeb Bush, ran large advertisements in Nicaraguan newspapers associating Ortega with international terrorism.

Current activities

FSLN - PLC Alliance on Congress

Ortega continues to lead the Sandinista party, which holds 43 seats in the National Assembly, making it the country's second largest party. Daniel Ortega was instrumental in creating the controversial strategic pact between the FSLN and the Constitutional Liberal Party (Partido Liberal Constitucionalista, PLC).

This alliance of Nicaragua's two major parties has changed the structure of the government and minimized the participation of other parties. "El Pacto," as it is known in Nicaragua, is said to have personally benefited former presidents Ortega and Aleman greatly, while constraining current president Enrique Bolanos.

2006 Presidential Election

A Presidential election was held on November 5, 2006, and Ortega is the winner. Herty Lewites- who was also running for president prior to his death in July 2006 -suggested that Ortega's pact with Aleman has given Ortega de facto control of the bodies responsible for administering the election, and thus that Ortega will be even more formidable than polls indicate.

According to the Nicaraguan Daily La Prensa, with 91.48% of the votes counted, FSLN presidential candidate Ortega is the victor in the November elections, having attained 38.07% of the votes cast. The Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance gained 29.00%, the Liberal Constitutional Party won 26.21%, the Movement for Sandinista renewal 6.44% and the Alternative for Change 0.27%. The FSLN were the party out in force to celebrate a victory the night after the election took place on November 6. Following his election, Ortega was congratulated by Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, and Fidel Castro, the president of Cuba.