Former Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega is poised to make a run in a tight Nicaraguan election that also includes former Sandinista and Ortega rival Herty Lewites. Gavin Esler with the BBC reports that the rise and resurgence of leftist anti-American politicians in Latin America reflects a failure of American policy in Latin America, recalling a conversation with Violeta Chamorro who defeated Ortega when the Sandinista government lost the 1990 election:
"It will be a huge embarrassment for George Bush junior, a symbol of everything that has gone wrong with American foreign policy in the hemisphere. And guess who predicted it would go wrong? Violeta Chamorro herself.
The night before her election victory over Mr Ortega I was invited to dinner at the walled compound of Mrs Chamorro's house in Managua. She told me that Washington politicians could always find money for wars in Latin America - but rarely for peace in Latin America.
She said even a slice of the money used to back the anti-communist Contra guerrillas could build a new Nicaragua - but she predicted that if she won the election Washington would declare victory - and then cut off the money supply. She was right."
If-Then Knots