Comandante’s Private Revolt

It all sounds so noble. The former Nicaraguan rebel hero, now living in comfort as the head of his political party, offers to lead his comrades in arms again to defend the gains of the revolution, particularly land reform. “We will reactivate the guerrilla commandos to fight for the conquest of the people,” said Daniel Ortega, once comandante of the Sandinista rebels, in a speech last Sunday commemorating the 20th anniversary of the revolution that ousted the Somoza dynasty.

Ortega, however, needs a new speech writer. A year ago in Managua, he used nearly the same words as he threatened to take up arms if the Nicaraguan Congress passed an anti-protest law.

This time, the target is conservative President Arnoldo Aleman, who insists that some Sandinista land reforms were unfair and should be undone, returning the property to previous owners. And therein lies the worm at the heart of Ortega’s renewed call to arms, according to his critics. Among the 100,000 properties that Aleman has said he is intent on reclaiming is Ortega’s own six-bedroom Managua manse (with wine cellar), which Ortega confiscated at the end of the revolution.

The old rebel’s irresponsible demands have a destabilizing effect on the country, deepening the schisms in Nicaraguan society. He had his own chance to rule and was booted out by voters in 1990. Now he prefers to snipe from the sidelines rather than help reconstruct his country’s shattered economy.

And there’s the matter of the charges of childhood rape made against him by his grown adopted daughter. Rather than divert attention with his calls to revolution, Ortega should step from behind his shield of government immunity from prosecution--he is a member of the National Assembly--and let the courts decide whether she’s telling the truth.

Ortega clearly wants to keep his house and reputation. But sounding a Sandinista call to arms will assure him neither. It can only do further harm to the nation he says he loves.