Ortega WINS Nicaraguan presidency....

[marmar]

Latin America's move to the left:woohoo:continues.


Daniel Ortega Wins Nicaragua Presidency

Monday, November 6, 2006
MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Former Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega appeared headed for victory Monday in his longtime quest to regain power, 16 years after a U.S.-backed rebellion helped drive the former Marxist revolutionary from office.

Early results from Sunday's presidential election gave the Sandinista leader a strong lead over his four rivals. His victory, if confirmed by final results, would expand the club of leftist Latin rulers led by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who has tried to help his ally by shipping cheap oil to the energy-starved nation.

Ortega, who led Nicaragua from 1985-1990, has repeatedly said he is not the Marxist revolutionary who fought U.S.-backed Contra rebels, a war that left 30,000 dead and the economy in shambles.

But while he has toned down his leftist rhetoric and pledged to continue free-trade policies, the United States remains openly wary of its former Cold War foe. Washington has threatened to withhold aid to the nation, fearing a return to the socialist economic policies of the 1980s.

The race has generated intense international interest, including a visit by Oliver North, the former White House aide at the heart of the Iran-Contra controversy. That effort to oust Ortega's Moscow-leaning Sandinista regime created a huge scandal in the United States when it became known that Washington secretly sold arms to Iran and used the money to fund and arm the Contra operation.

With 15 percent of polling stations counted, Ortega had 40 percent of Sunday's vote, compared with 33 percent for his closest challenger, the wealthy banker Eduardo Montealegre.

Three others rivals were well behind: Sandinista dissident Edmundo Jarquin, ruling-party candidate Jose Rizo and former Contra rebel Eden Pastora.

To win outright and avoid a runoff, the leftist Sandinista leader needs just 35 percent of the vote and a five-point advantage over his closest opponent.

The rest is at: http://home.peoplepc.com/psp/newsstory.asp?cat=news&referrer=welcome&id=20061106/454ec150_3ca6_155262006110698053308

[bullimiami]

1. oh thats got to broil the neocons goose.

[marmar]

2. You know it....

They've lost just about all control over Latin America.

[Demeter]

17. Not Even a Runoff? Ooh, That's Got to Hurt!

Bet there's a rancho in Paraguay up for sale cheap!

[dipsydoodle]

53. He need a clean first round win

which I truly hope he gets. If there was a runoff the other conservative groups would combine to defeat him.

[Stevepol]

3. Diebold hasn't marketed in Nicaragua apparently.

[endarkenment]

4. Har! Ollie North Shit His Pants!

Viva!

[SpiralHawk]

9. Jolly Ollie? You mean the guy who gave U.S. Hawk missiles to Iran?

Another traitorous republicon crony giving weapons to the Axis of Evil?

Why did North and the republicons give sophisticated arms to Iran?

Do they want our sons and daughters in uniform to die after being blasted to smithereens by weapons built in America -- weapons that republicon munitions corporations are PROFITING MASSIVELY WITH?

Why do republicons give our enemies weapons to use against our soldiers?

[gratuitous]

14. The republicons didn't "give" our enemies weapons!

They sold our enemies weapons that didn't belong to them. C'mon, Ollie North may be a traitor, but he's a capitalist traitor, and in the eyes of the GOP one overrules the other.

[SpiralHawk]

32. You are totally right, gratty. North is not a common low-life traitor

He is a special capitalist profit-making "FRIEND OF IRA."

Our U.S. sons and daughters in uniform can rest easy that that a "special kind of guy" sold Iran the weapons that Iran is pointing at our soldiers. After all, North made megabucks money profits for republicon cronies !!!!


I stand corrected.

[Joe Chi Minh]

15. Interesting extract from the entry in Wikipedia on Robert Menzies,

the Aussie politician and deputy leader of his party, the UAP, who came to be known as "Pig Iron Bob":

"In 1938 he was given the nickname "Pig Iron Bob", the result of his industrial battle with waterside workers who refused to load scrap iron being sold to Japan."

In those days, at least, the Aussie worker didn't take prisoners.

Strange, also, to note their foresight, while a real hot-shot lawyer cum politician couldn't or wouldn't see it.

Needless to say, Pig Iron Bob was later made Prime Minister and knighted by the British.

What those Aussies would have done if they'd had to deal with your neocons, posting "How to Make an H-Bomb" on the Net, apart from all the other treasonous commercial shenanigans, doesn't bear thinking about, does it!

[MGD]

50. "Why do republicons give our enemies weapons to use against our soldiers?"

Because war is our number 1 export and; furthermore, we never know which of our friends today will become an enemy tomorrow due to the fickle political winds.

[jmowreader]

5. Maybe sending Oliver North to Nicaragua wasn't such a good idea

[dipsydoodle]

6. He's not quite there yet.

Managua, Nov 6 (Prensa Latina) Daniel Ortega, candidate of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), continues Monday ahead in the Nicaraguan elections after counting 14.65 percent of the 11 274 voting centers
>
According to the second preliminary report released this morning by the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), Ortega had achieved 40.04 percent of the valid votes followed by Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance runner Eduardo Montealegre with 33.29.

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID={6EFB04DB-9A4E-4DEA-ACD4-18E396A14F92})&language=EN

Fingers crossed he wins. :)

[rman]

11. Not by a long shot, i'm afraid -

Obrador (Mexico) was still ahead of Calderon with 98% of polling stations counted (over 2% lead with up to 80% counted) - but Calderon won, with a little over 0.5%.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_general_election%2C_2006

[dipsydoodle]

19. I know exactly what you mean

but hope springs eternal.

[MoJoWorkin]

7. Karma is a bitch for the Repukes !!! n/t

[sinkingfeeling]

8. Uh-oh, guess we'll be invading Nicaragua soon! Gotta keep spreading

that freedom on the march.

[madrchsod]

10. i wonder who is going to be danny`s new friend........

maybe china? the neo-cons lost another country to china... heck of a job georgy

[EFerrari]

12. China, Iran, Venezuela. When there are more nonAligned

countries than Aligned countries, are they still nonAligned?

:silly:

[goforit]

13. Bush/Cheney will just have to fight the entire world now. Turning left is

the "in" thing now with the Napoleonites in office.

[Blaq Dem]

31. For every action, there is an opposite and equal REaction

As the U.S. pushes towards the right, the world will react towards the left. It's the law of the universe.

[Fierce]

16. Of course, his sharp shift to the right on choice means nothing.

And once again, the revolution rolls over the backs of women.

[David__77]

22. FSLN was never pro-choice.

Abortion was never really accessible in the country. Despite its left cover, FSLN was always more of a culturally conservative nationalist organization. Even so, it is progressive in context.

[Fierce]

23. FSLN may not have been, but he at least gave lip-service to the idea.

I'm decrying the people who think he's the one bringing the revolution.

[David__77]

27. FSLN never contemplated it seriously.

AMNLAE, the Sandinista women's group, favored legalizing abortion, but FSLN forced them to back off in order to conciliate with the Catholic chuch, itself a hotbed of reactionaries.

Ortega is packaged as a moderate social democrat, but I suspect he will readily join the Bolivarian ranks. That is a good thing. Between Venezuela and China, Nicaragua will be in a good position under US pressure.

[iverglas]

33. I just learned this

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061027/nicaragua_abortion_061027/20061027?hub=Health

MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- Nicaragua's Congress has voted to ban all abortions, despite the concerns of diplomats, doctors and women's rights advocates that the issue has become politicized ahead of presidential elections.

...

The bill has the support of the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front, whose presidential candidate, Daniel Ortega, is trying not to alienate conservative voters in this predominantly Roman Catholic country ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

... Ortega, who favored abortion rights as a young revolutionary, has said he has become a devout Roman Catholic and now opposes abortion. Some 85 percent of Nicaragua's 5 million people are Catholic.

Ortega headed the socialist Sandinista government of the 1980s and had a contentious relationship with the Catholic Church. But he has recently established warm ties with leading church figures in Nicaragua.

And I'm afraid that my response is to say fuck the whole woman-hating pigshit lot of them, with Ortega at the top of the list.

A politician who has a warm relationship with "leading church figures in Nicaragua" doesn't give a crap about women or much of anyone else. I guess those sunglasses said it all: once a poseur, always a poseur.

[Fierce]

34. Right on, right on.

nt

[iverglas]

37. I don't like to be quite so unnuanced as I was ...

But sometimes ...

On seeing the reference to Margaret Randall in the Wikipedia article -- which, by the way, points out --

As in many other developing countries, a large segment of the economically poor in Nicaragua are women. In addition, a relatively high percentage of Nicaragua's average homes have a woman as head of household: 39% of urban homes and 28% of the rural ones.

-- I was curious. I knew Randall vaguely in Cuba in the late 1970s, and always found her to be a bit of a lame apologist for all things revolutionary, but hadn't followed her career after the apparently successful attempt to get her US citizenship back.

http://www.amazon.com/Sandinos-Daughters-Revisited-Feminism-Nicaragua/dp/0813520258

From Publishers Weekly
Randall (Sandino's Daughters) lived for more than three years in Nicaragua and supported the Sandinistas. Returning there in 1991 after the Sandinista defeat, she concluded that the party's inability to confront feminism was a major failure, and resolved to explore the state of Nicaraguan feminism. What emerged are deeply textured interviews with 12 women, a worthy contribution to the literature concerning both Nicaragua and the role of women in social change. Poet Michele Najlis recalls Daniel Ortega dismissing abortion and family planning as exotic ideas important only to intellectuals. Doctor Mirna Cunningham, raped by contras in a notorious incident, says that ethnically diverse women from the Atlantic Coast face "an inordinate degree of violence." Daisy Zamora, the former vice-minister of culture, reflects that the few women in power should have protested in louder voices. Lawyer Milu Vargas makes the central point that a revolution means both external and internal change. Despite their detailed and thoughtful criticisms, these women remain proud of the progress of their country and retain many of their revolutionary ideals.

Some more interesting commentary (there's no shortage of it, and I leave aside the decades of sexual abuse perpetrated by Ortega against his step-daughter for the moment):

http://www.culturekitchen.com/comment/reply/9617/?quote=1

What is emblematic of their split with the party is who they really represent : The artists, intellectuals and Theology of Liberation activists who were the heart and soul of the sandinista movement. That they left the party goes to show how the capitalists and caudillos had successfully coopted a revolution that was supposed to be of, for and by the people of Nicaragua.

Which leads me to say this about the abortion ban: It makes sense given the institutionalized corruption in Nicaragua. This is a quote I got out of one of the hundreds of articles on the subject:

Orlando Tardencilla, one of the members of the sub-committee which proposed the bill, said: "Unless abortion is made a crime, then people can simply come out and say: 'I have the right to an abortion, this is my body and I can decide.'

(Rest of quote from source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6072092.stm
"That's like saying: 'I'm allowed to commit murder because these hands are mine, this gun is mine.'")

Hey, who needs the vicious US right wing when you've got the Sandinistas?


I've always been a fan of having to choose between the lesser of two ugly evils. Not.

[Fierce]

38. There was an amazing article about abortion access in Nicaragua...

in, shoot, the Times? The Nation? Salon? I can't remember. But it blew me away. (Well, that was a helpful thought, wasn't it. Time to do some searching...)

The whole thing is a lot more complicated than "Hey, stuff it, Reagan! And other right-wingers! Nyah!" Which is what I see in this and other threads.

[iverglas]

40. if a US Republican had been granted life-time immunity from prosecution

for *all* wrongdoing (I'd like to think that that the immunity was granted as part of a national reconciliation process, as in South Africa -- i.e. an amnesty for things done during a period of internal conflict) ... and were then found to have sexually abused his stepchild from the age of 11 onward ... well, one can only imagine the traffic at DU.

Ah, but it's just those limousine left-coast liberals in Nicaragua who give a shit about things like women's rights and autonomy and well-being.

From 2003:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2789279.stm

A nine-year-old Nicaraguan girl, who was four months pregnant after being raped, has had an abortion in a private clinic.

The girl's parents claimed she became pregnant after she was raped in Costa Rica where they were working on a coffee plantation.

Abortion is illegal in Nicaragua except in exceptional circumstances, such as when the mother's life is in danger.

The girl's parents asked the authorities for special permission to have the pregnancy terminated.

Nicaragua's family minister, Natalia Barias, said the child should have the baby.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2817051.stm

The Nicaraguan authorities say that the parents and doctors of a nine-year-old girl who received an abortion two weeks ago will not face criminal charges.

... But the Nicaraguan Attorney General, Maria del Carmen Solorzano, said the abortion did not break any laws because it was carried out to save the life of the girl.

This is a case that has brought Nicaragua's stringent abortion laws into the spotlight.

They only allow abortions when the mother's life is in danger, or when the foetus has severe deformities.

The new legislation would eliminate the woman's-life exception. This puts Nicaragua up there with Nepal ... at least, until Nepal's recent legislative change. Fine company for revolutionaries, indeed.


Colombia recently liberalized (ha) abortion laws:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5284604.stm (August 2006)

Colombia's first legal abortion has taken place after the deeply-Catholic nation legalised the procedure in May.

Abortion is only permitted in three cases - if the mother's life is in danger, if the foetus is badly deformed or if the pregnancy results from rape.

This case involved an 11-year-old girl who was raped by her stepfather.

Despite the change in the law, the girl's case had to go all the way to the constitutional court before an abortion was authorised.

(Huh. Wonder what would have happened if Ortega's 11-yr-old stepdaughter had become pregnant ...)

Hopefully, Chile will move away from this outrageous position soon, with its own new government. All the while Ortega is complicit in the oppression of Nicaraguan women.

The RC church and the evangelicals in Nicaragua (the latter being about 15% of the population) have worked hand in glove on this one. Interesting. I can understand a Latin American country taking its catholicism to heart as a cultural sovereignty matter, and particularly in the face of fundamentalist protestant incursions (with considerable US backing). There doesn't seem to be much bad blood between them when it comes their common cause of woman-hating and woman-hurting here.

Of course, the plain fact is that there are no fewer abortions, and probably more, in countries like Nicaragua under laws like this. Particularly when a government is as generally uninterested in women's reproductive health, and specifically in access to contraception, as the Sandinista govt was.

[Make7]

63. Who was the candidate you were hoping would win?

1. Edén Pastora Gómez
   
2. José Rizo Castellón
   
3. Eduardo Montealegre
   
4. Edmundo Jarquín

- Make7

[iverglas]

65. ain't you cute?

We all have to pick the lesser/least of some number of evils much of the time.

This does not mean that we do not acknowledge differences between them. It also does not mean that we don't hold our noses when we do it.

The fact that Ortega seems somewhat better than the other options doesn't mean that he smells like a rose, or is above criticism. And I do wonder whether some of those expressing such glee

- know anything about his policies
- care at all about what happens in Nicaragua

In large part, I'm just seeing more reinterpretation of the world to make it revolve around the US.

And as far as your nasty little question -- insinuating that the person you were addressing would have preferred someone other than Ortega to win, when you have no basis for such an insinuation whatsoever -- well, some revolving might be in order in that case.

[Make7]

67. Who was the candidate you were hoping would win?

1. Edén Pastora Gómez
   
2. José Rizo Castellón
   
3. Eduardo Montealegre
   
4. Edmundo Jarquín
   
5. José Daniel Ortega Saavedra

- Make7

[iverglas]

69. have you chosen the object

you'd like to revolve on yet?

[Make7]

70. I thought that had been determined by the post that I first replied to. ( n/t )

[dipsydoodle]

18. Latest news update

Independent Group Says Ortega Won
Managua, Nov 6 (Prensa Latina) Nicaragua s independent organization "Etica y Transparencia" has granted the electoral win in the first round to Sandinista candidate Daniel Ortega, based on results of a quick counting held parallel to the official one.

http://www.plenglish.com/Default.asp

[David__77]

20. Wonderful news!

I just hope that he withdraws from CAFTA and again makes the country a base of independence and national sovereignty. The one thing Bush has been good for is rejuvenating the international left and opening people's eyes to things that were obscured under Clinton.

[Judi Lynn]

21. It 's not likely, but it would be great if Bush learned from the mistakes of the Reagan

administration, and respected the Nicaraguan people's election, for a change.

It's pretty hard to look convincing yammering about how much you love "democracy" while you hurl yourself into trying to overthrow democratically elected administrations time after time after time.

Republican pResidents look like monsters spending the American people's hard earned tax money on destroying both the leaders people choose, and the people who chose chose them.

Leave these people alone, _Bush. It's NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.

[0007]

66. This is like pissing in John Negroponte's oatmeal



[Judi Lynn]

68. At least he'd recover from that oatmeal, unlike the people who were

raped, tortured, murdered, thrown out of airplanes, etc. by his death squads!

[0007]

71. .....'tis hard to understand how he can be the head Intelligent Chief.

Talk about the twilight zone.

[Vidar]

24. Magnificent!

[ananda]

25. O frabjous day!

Calloo callay!

This IS good news! I needed that.

[progressoid]

26. Yet another country we thought we could bully.

[Peace Patriot]

28. "...a war that left 30,000 dead...". There wouldn't have been so many dead

if the Reaganites hadn't killed them. The Sandinista revolution was a relatively unbloody revolution with tremendous popular support, and immediately began creating an orderly, non-dictatorial government after it overthrew the dictatorial Somaza family. Ortega's "Marxism" was of a quite mild variety, involving education and land reform. Our Congress passed a law forbidding the Reagan administration to interfere (denied all funding for war on Nicaragua). In defiance of the will of Congress, the Reaganites (that era's Bushites--and some of the same players), sold weapons to IRAN to obtain the ILLICIT, unaccountable money to fund fascist death squads (called the Contras--i.e., counter-revolutionaries) to invade the countryside and sneak around killing leftist mayors and teachers and anyone who supported the popular revolutionary government. THIS is why "the war left 30,000 dead." Violent U.S. interference against popular uprisings and popular rule--as in Nicaragua--and against democratic elections and governments around the world--Iran, Vietnam, Chile, Guatemala, El Salvador, and many more--has caused so much grief and impoverishment. The U.S. stopped U.N.-sponsored elections in Vietnam, for instance, in 1954--elections that Ho Chi Minh would have won--set up a puppet government in the south and invaded the country and was responsible for the slaughter of some 2 million people in Southeast Asia, by the time it was all over, in order to prevent the PEOPLES' CHOICE from GETTING ELECTED. And they pursued a similar ANTI-DEMOCRATIC policy in Iran--topped the democratic government, and inflicted Iranians with 25 years of torture and repression under the horrible Shah of Iran.

In fact, the carnage from U.S. policy in South and Central America, Southeast Asia and other places, is why the Democratic Congress during the Reagan era passed the law forbidding war on Nicaragua. With modern communications--and after the horror in Vietnam--the American people became better informed about what our government was doing to arm and prop up heinous dictatorships, and to prevent populist governments, all over the world, as U.S.-based global corporate predators spread out around the globe hunting resources and exploitable peoples.

Daniel Ortega's election as president of Nicaragua is certainly sweet revenge for all the misery that the U.S. government and its corporate puppetmasters have caused to the Nicaraguan people. I only hope that we in the U.S. are able to restore transparent elections here, in order to put our own government back on the path of decency, democracy and fairness, and to curtail the corporate predators who are causing so much harm to us and to everyone else. Ortega's election is part of a vast new peaceful revolution that is sweeping Latin America. Let's hope we have one here, too. Viva la revolución!

Wikipedia has a good article on the fascinating modern history of Nicaragua: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua

[whirlygigspin]

29. Nicaragua Nicaraguita!

http://www.radiolaprimerisima.com/files/canciones/Nicaragua,_Nicaraguita_(en_vivo).mp3

Sing along with me, you old hippies!

[Judi Lynn]

30. The terrific Wikipedia historical overview of right-wing meddling in Nicaragua

was well worth taking the time to read, Peace Patriot.

It's good to be reminded that it was the DEMOCRATS in Congress who denied Reagan the money he sought to interfere in Nicaragua's internal affairs, trying to overthrow Ortega in the first place.

It's a bitter tragedy that the Reagan administration had gathered so much power it was impossible to prosecute their criminal contempt of U.S. law by conducting illegal operations anyway.

You really might wonder if _Bush sent Oliver North back there, knowing Ortega was likely to win, in order to start organizing a new Contra operation all over again.

I hope Nicaragua will be PREPARED for any violence from American right-wing power-seeking fascists this time, and that any attempt to overturn the election will be easily countered.

[dipsydoodle]

52. Latest UK link from last night 11pm GMT- video

http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=3827

It's worth checking our Channel 4 stuff daily for latest news videos.

[Judi Lynn]

54. Thanks for sharing that Channel 4 link. Very interesting. It was a surprise

hearing Carlos Fernandez Chamorro, son of the President Chamorro who replaced Daniel Ortega previously, saying that Hugo Chavez's influence with Nicaragua prior to the election had been "intelligent," and that the U.S. had been very "clumsy."

I think he probably meant "heavy handed." "Clumsy" is probably the most charitable word he could use, considering _Bush sent a meddling perjuror/Iran Contra bully down there to butt into their election a couple of weeks ago. How predictable Oliver North shared his lofty opinion with Nicaraguans that Daniel Ortega reminds him of Hitler and Mussolini. :wtf:

He should be taken seriously when he said the U.S. should give Ortega the "benefit of the doubt." I'm sure his advice falls on deaf ears, but _Bush would do well to leave these people alone this time.

Thanks for providing a link to Channel 4. I've heard about it a lot, but have never seen it before now. Looks very useful.

[citizen snips]

35. great news!

I bet Ollie North is pissed. :rofl:

[Amused Musings]

36. strange world

What a strange world we live in. It seems that all the Cold War characters from the 80's have come back in the twenty first century - Rumsfeld, Cheney, North, Saddam, and now Ortega. Around here its always 1987! But on a more serious note, I think this is an essentially good thing, if it turns out he wins: good for Guatemalans that democracy and civil society is on the move again. It also gives Bush another black eye (how many eyes does he have and how do they keep getting "punched"?).

[ChairmanAgnostic]

39. This can't be right. It isn't a democracy unless they support OUR guy.

how dare they vote for ortega? Don't they know how much we spent getting rid of him the first time?
a new candidate for a South American Axis of Evil.

Venezuela
Nicaragua
Brazil (How dare they become free of oil imports!)

[Vidar]

42. You've captured the very essence of bushthink.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

43. I get a lot of practice from pater-unit

As I said elsewhere, he and atilla share a common gene pool, politically.

[Make7]

64. Reminds me of that Kissinger quote:

I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.

- Henry A. Kissinger

- Make7

[Crunchy Frog]

41. That's going to give Chimpy some Oedipal issues.

:rofl:

[antiimperialist]

44. Looks like Ollie's presence boosted Ortega's #'s

I remember polls showing Ortega falling short of 35% in polls conducted before the Oliver North visit.

His presence backfired.

[Sapere aude]

45. Reagan is spinning in his grave!

[CatholicEdHead]

46. So, when do more renamed SOA graduates get let loose

down there?

[Odin2005]

47. Bwahahaha, St. Ronnie is rolling in his grave!

Viva Ortega! :woohoo:

[krkaufman]

48. Unfortunate that they just need a plurality, as well...

... rather than majority support.

[upi402]

49. this is the definition of BLOWBACK

ha ha ha BushCo. How's that Pnac plan working out? Planet earth will be your anaconda!

[eridani]

51. Besides the abortion issue--

--he's gone all neoliberal. I'm not expecting a lot of big changes.

[bemildred]

55. Ortega returns as Nicaragua president

:-):-):-)

Wednesday 08 November 2006, 4:41 Makka Time, 1:41 GMT

The Sandinista leader, Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist who fought a US-backed insurgency in the 1980's, has won Nicaragua's presidential election.

With 91 per cent of the vote counted, Ortega had 38 per cent of the vote compared to 29 per cent for Eduardo Montealegre, who was backed by the US.

Under Nicaraguan law, the winner must reach 35 per cent and have a five percentage point lead to win the election outright and avoid a runoff.

Ortega's supporters celebrated in the streets following the announcement, setting off fireworks.

al Jazeera

[niallmac]

56. Someone in the CIA counter democracy unit is in trouble tonight. n/t

[Joanne98]

57. That's great news! K&R!

[Cooley Hurd]

58. Breaking news: Hearing of Ortega's win, Ollie North and Monty Hall calling Iran

"Let's make a Deal...":rofl:

[Taxloss]

59. Kick.

I'm surprised this hasn't stayed on the LBN front page - I duped it by accident.

D'oh.

[Taxloss]

60. ORTEGA WINS IN NICARAGUA

Nicaragua's former leader, Daniel Ortega, has won the country's presidential election.

The one-time revolutionary has 38%, nine points ahead of his conservative rival Eduardo Montealegre, with more than 91% of votes counted.

Mr Montealegre conceded to his rival, but said he would hold him to account for his promises to promote business and free trade.

The US pledged to work with Nicaragua's leaders, if they back democracy.

More:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6117704.stm

[Judi Lynn]

61. U.S. Uses Blackjack Tactics to Sway Nicaragua Elections

U.S. Uses Blackjack Tactics to Sway Nicaragua Elections

Commentary by Willy E. Gutman

Friday November 10, 2006

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - As the United States prepared for this week's high-stakes mid-term elections, it was quietly muscling in on Nicaragua's hotly contested presidential race, hoping to spoil front-running candidate and former Sandinista (FSLN) president Daniel Ortega's chances for re-election.

It didn't work. Ortega won.

The American Chamber of Commerce of Nicaragua and the U.S. Embassy in Managua had conspired to promote right-wing candidates in a frontal assault against America's onetime enemy.

The scheme was as harebrained as it was odious: Chamber president René Gonzlez wanted Washington-groomed Eduardo Montealegre, second in the polls, and José Rizo, in fourth place, to unite on a single ticket. A preselected group of 30,000 Nicaraguans were then to decide which of the two candidates would run as president and which would run as his vice president. To his credit, Montealegre scoffed at the idea.
(snip/...)

http://www.the-signal.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=34172&format=html

[Judi Lynn]

62. A beacon of hope for the rebirth of Bolívar's dream

A beacon of hope for the rebirth of Bolívar's dream

A shadow of his former self, Ortega's victory is still an expression of the wider demand for change sweeping Latin America

Tariq Ali
Thursday November 9, 2006
The Guardian

Daniel Ortega, blessed by the church, flanked by a former Contra as his vice-president and still loathed by the US ambassador, may be a sickly shadow of his former self, but his victory undoubtedly reflects the desire of Nicaraguans for change. Will Managua follow the radically redistributive policies of anti-imperialist Caracas or confine itself to rhetoric and remain a client of the International Monetary Fund?

Ortega's victory comes at a time when Latin America is on the march again. There have been some spectacular demonstrations of the popular will in Porto Alegre, Caracas, Buenos Aires, Cochabamba and Cuzco, to name but a few cities. This has offered a new hope to a world either deep in neoliberal torpor (the EU, the US, the Far East) or suffering from the military and economic depredations of the new order (Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Afghanistan, south Asia).

The noises emanating from the governments of Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba, and from the giant social movements from below in Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil, are obviously not welcomed by the global elite or its media apologists. The struggle spearheaded by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela against the Washington consensus has attracted the fury of the White House. Three attempts (including a military coup backed by the US and the EU) were made to topple Hugo Chávez.

Chávez was first elected president of Venezuela in February 1999, 10 years after a popular insurrection against the IMF readjustment programme had been brutally crushed by Carlos Andrés Peréz, whose party was once the largest affiliate of the Socialist International. In his election campaign Peréz had denounced the economists on the World Bank's payroll as "genocide workers in the pay of economic totalitarianism" and the IMF as "a neutron bomb that killed people, but left buildings standing".

Afterwards he caved in to the demands of both institutions, suspended the constitution, declared a state of emergency and ordered the army to mow down the protesters. More than 2,000 poor people were shot dead by troops. This was the founding moment of the Bolivarian upheaval in Venezuela.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1942878,00.html