Ortega Tries to Disarm Terror as an Election Issue

Daniel Ortega is back.

The Marxist leader who battled U.S.-backed forces to a stalemate during the 1980s is running again for president of Nicaragua, this time as a changed man.

The drab green rebel fatigues have vanished. Now, Ortega sports hot pink dress shirts at campaign rallies. The Marxist rants are gone, replaced by calls for peace, love and understanding. Atheism? Out. Ortega’s a born-again Christian.

But most of all, he wants the world to know he’s no friend to terrorists.

“We are at peace with the United States,” he said in a brief interview last week. “We have been clear. We are not enemies of the United States. We are very much against terrorism.”

As Nicaraguan voters go to the polls today to decide the tightest electoral contest in their nation’s short democratic history, Ortega finds himself part of an early test of the new imperative in U.S. foreign policy: combating terrorism.

Since Sept. 11, top State Department officials have repeatedly and publicly reminded Nicaraguans about Ortega’s friendships with countries like Libya and Cuba. The not-so-subtle threat is that his reelection could affect a vital flow of aid money to this impoverished country of 5 million.

As a result, some analysts fear that the elections here are a preview of U.S. strategy in the post-Sept. 11 world, where tricky foreign policy questions may be rendered in black-and-white terms reminiscent of the Cold War.

“My fear is that the anti-terrorism mantle will become the excuse not to look at foreign policy issues carefully,” said Lisa Haugaard, the legislative coordinator for the Latin American Working Group, a Washington-based think tank. “Anti-terrorism will become a rhetorical tool.”

The question of whether Ortega has actually changed, and how closely linked he is to terrorist nations, is open to debate.

Many in Nicaragua still remember the grim days of the ‘80s, after Ortega and his Sandinista rebel army overthrew the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza in 1979.

The Sandinistas installed a Marxist regime that improved public health and education but also seized private property, established links to the Soviet Union and Cuba, and supported a leftist rebellion in El Salvador.

This government was soon challenged by the contras, guerrillas covertly funded by the U.S. The ensuing bloody war cost 30,000 lives, resulted in food and gasoline shortages, and saw young boys forced into military service with little training. The conflict finally wound down in the late ‘80s, and in 1990 Ortega lost the presidency to U.S.-backed candidate Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.

Some old friends say Ortega, now 54, has not changed much since those days. They portray him as a power junkie, desperately seeking one last fix before sinking into political irrelevance. In 1996, he lost another race for the presidency.

“He’s an addict of power,” said Moises Hassan, an original member of the Sandinista junta that ran Nicaragua and an opponent of Ortega’s candidacy. “Daniel, like Somoza, can’t live without this drug.”

Others think the former president has matured and changed since his revolutionary youth. And with nearly three-quarters of the population 25 and younger, most of the country has no direct memory of a Sandinista government.

“Daniel is not the same now. The international context is not the same. The Cold War is over,” said Oscar Rene Vargas, author of a book on the Sandinistas. “He is not going to repeat the mistakes of the past. People change.”

Candidate Dropped Out

U.S. officials have been openly worried about a possible Ortega victory since March, when President Bush first began appointing State Department veterans who worked on Latin America during the Cold War to top State Department positions.

At the time, Ortega seemed to have the edge in a three-way race. But after meetings with various U.S. officials this spring, one of the candidates, Noel Vidaurre, dropped out, and many of his followers switched to Liberal party candidate Enrique Bolanos, 73, a businessman and former vice president.

The dropout denied being coerced, but his departure served U.S. interests since Ortega and Bolanos wound up locked in a two-way struggle. Most polls have shown the two men with nearly identical levels of support, though Bolanos seems to have gained some slight momentum recently.

In June, a top State Department official criticized Ortega for not doing more to address about 800 cases involving property belonging to U.S. citizens that was seized during a decade of Marxist rule, from 1979 to 1990.

Still, opposition leaders say there wasn’t much enthusiasm among U.S. officials for backing a challenger. Adolfo Calero, a former contra leader whose home features a wall filled with pictures of such Cold War heroes as Ronald Reagan and Oliver North, says he journeyed to Washington with Bolanos in June in search of help.

Calero says he even asked for covert campaign funding from the State Department but was turned down. The U.S. is supplying an estimated $6 million to help ensure fair and free elections.

“We got the cold shoulder,” Calero said. “The U.S. should do more. It needs to put its money where its mouth is.”

It wasn’t until after the Sept. 11 attacks that the U.S. stepped up its efforts against Ortega, explicitly connecting him to the terrorism issue while pledging to respect the results of the elections.

Ortega maintains contacts with Cuba and Libya, as well as with guerrilla groups in South America such as Colombia’s FARC rebels. In addition, it is believed that at least 300 members of terrorist groups like the Basque separatist organization ETA received Nicaraguan citizenship during the 1980s, according to Manuel Orozco, who studies Central America for the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington think tank.

“We have serious concerns about the Sandinistas’ history of violating democratic principles, basic human rights, seizing people’s properties without compensation and ties to supporters of terrorism,” said Marc Grossman, U.S. undersecretary of State for political affairs, in a speech in Washington in October.

The State Department’s criticisms have angered many on the Nicaraguan left and have confused moderates in the coalition Ortega is heading. The coalition’s vice presidential candidate, Agustin Jarquin from the Christian Democrats, has expressed frustration at the United States’ promotion of a free and fair election at the same time as it supports one candidate.

“This is not the model to form a proper relationship with the United States,” Jarquin said. “This is not good or healthy for democracy.”

Even former President Carter criticized the State Department’s statements at a news conference Saturday. Carter is in Nicaragua as part of a team of international observers monitoring the elections.

“I personally disapprove of statements or actions by another country that might tend to influence the votes of people of another sovereign nation,” Carter said. “I also have observed . . . that outside interference in the opinions of free people sometimes has a negative effect.”

The opposition Liberal party was quick to seize on the U.S. tactic, however, having had little success in denting Ortega’s popularity.

Bolanos’ candidacy has been hampered by his service as vice president to current President Arnoldo Aleman, one of the most unpopular leaders in the country’s history because of corruption accusations that have dogged him in office.

And Nicaraguans seem not to care much about salacious accusations in 1998 from Ortega’s stepdaughter, Zoilamerica Narvaez Murillo, that he repeatedly molested her when she was young. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights recently agreed to review the allegations. Ortega has immunity from prosecution as a member of the National Assembly.

As a result, the Liberals have mounted a final determined effort to emphasize Ortega’s terrorist links, playing on fears of both Ortega and the effect his reelection might have on U.S. relations. The Liberals’ TV spots picture Ortega with figures such as Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi.

At a recent Liberal rally, one attendee held a picture of Ortega with an Osama bin Laden-style beard. One sign said: “Counterterrorism. Yes, we can.” Bolanos thundered against Ortega’s coziness with terrorists.

15,000 Cheer Ex-Leader

Another recent rally, in Matagalpa, a mid-size town about a three-hour drive north of the capital, Managua, showed that Ortega has retained his ability to attract adoring devotees.

More than 15,000 people packed a soccer field at the entrance of the town, which has been particularly hard hit by a combination of drought and a drop in coffee prices.

Meanwhile, in faraway Managua, a Hard Rock Cafe lures crowds of elegant partyers, while sleek Mercedes-Benzes cruise the streets and high-end business hotels rise along the city’s main thoroughfares.

As in many parts of Latin America, the quickly expanding gap between rich and poor is erasing whatever positive effect was created during the ‘90s by modest improvements in health, income and standard of living.

Frustration and anger were reflected in many faces at the Matagalpa rally, which seemed partly a love-in. Pink signs painted with flowers surrounded the dusty field. Music blared.

Ortega blasted those who criticize him, saying he was being subjected to a “dirty campaign of lies.”

“We haven’t responded to any of those lies. We have responded with peace and love, because love is stronger than hate,” the former guerrilla said.

There seemed little worry among the ralliers about Ortega’s connections with terrorist nations or U.S. condemnation of those ties. Most people were concerned about basics like getting enough food or a job to pay for shelter and education.

“There’s no food for the children. We don’t have the support of the government,” said Senada Reynoso, an unemployed 26-year-old single mother of three children. “Our government is for the rich.”

Francisco Mendez, 18, was even more blunt. He attended the rally with several teenage friends who were waving a huge Sandinista flag.

“The war is in the past,” Mendez said. “Now it’s about the future.”