Nicaragua: The return of “El Pacto”

There’s a saying that goes “if you can’t beat them, join them.” Ex-president Arnoldo Aleman seems to have taken this to heart with the announcement this morning that he would again join with current president Daniel Ortega.

In a surprising move, Aleman said that he would withdraw his bid to compete in the primaries of Nicaragua’s main conservative party and would instead run with the Sandinista leader. “We ran the country before so why not do it again?” asked Aleman to the press in reference to their previous political alliance.

So far there has been no official response from Ortega or from other senior government officials. But according to a February article in Nicaragua’s El Nuevo Diario, Ortega “spoke very warmly” about Aleman after Ortega accepted his confirmation as the Sandinista presidential candidate.

Known as “El Pacto,” the agreement permitted the country’s main leftist and right-wing parties to run the country for over a decade. Both strongmen originally entered the pact in 1999 as equal partners though Ortega would gain the upper hand as he consolidated power via possibly dubious means. His bid for a consecutive reelection was blasted by opponents as unconstitutional.

Aleman was imprisoned in 2003 after being convicted of corruption during his presidency. Yet Aleman has attempted a political resurgence after the Supreme Court dubiously overturned his conviction last year.

The new alliance is expected to debilitate political parties outside of the Ortega-Aleman sphere such as small opposition groups and Sandinista dissidents. As Tracy Wilkinson wrote in the Los Angeles Times last September:

Caudillos like Ortega and Aleman thrive in Nicaragua, backed by huge political machinery and able to crush aspiring rivals with the flick of a wrist, partly because of the fractured, personalistic nature of politics here. Big egos in a small country, everyone and his brother wants to lead a party; there are dozens of parties so small you can fit the membership on a bicycle, as one local wag put it.

The Nicaraguan presidential elections will be held on November 6th.

Image- El Nuevo Diario (Arnoldo Aleman and Daniel Ortega in a 2000 public appearance).
Online Sources- El Nuevo Diario, Time, Canadian Press, Los Angeles Times

Nighttime News Roundup

• Panama: Unrest has died down in Bocas del Toro province after a strike by banana workers led to two deaths, but unions are calling for a 24-hour national strike to begin at midnight.

• Cuba: Fidel Castro returned to Cuban television for a long interview in which he appeared in normal health and said that war between the US and Iran was inevitable.

• Nicaragua: Former president Arnaldo Alemán, convicted of corruption but then pardoned by rival Daniel Ortega, will again run for president of Nicaragua in 2011. The announcement comes just days after a Panamanian court announced that it would drop money laundering charges against Alemán.

Image Source: European Pressphoto Agency

Online Sources: Telemetro (Panama), ABC News, Associated Press

Ortega's veep opposes reelection in Nicaragua

Jaime Morales, the vice-president of Nicaragua, publicly opposed the slow and steady attempts of President Daniel Ortega to seek the constitutional changes necessary for consecutive reelection. "Re-elections have spawned dictatorships, tyrannies, confrontations and civil war," he told reporters yesterday in Managua.

Morales' remarks on the matter, which he has made to a lesser extent over the past several weeks, represent the highest-level public opposition to Ortega's power moves that many thought would go relatively unimpeded given that Ortega's allies within the Sandinistas and PLC effectively dominate the legislature and judiciary. Remarkably, it comes from within Ortega's own ranks, though Morales is far from an Ortega loyalist.

Morales is a former leader of the PLC which joined ranks with the rival Sandinista party prior to Ortega's victory in 2006 after the "unholy alliance" formed between the two at-odds groups thanks to back-room dealings between Ortega and Former President Aleman. Aleman, who only recently was released from house arrest by Ortega, has suggested that he wil be seeking a return to politics himself. Thus, it may not be terribly surprising to see Morales make these statements so publicly, as a strategic shift in PLC allegiance to Aleman or another PLC candidate (perhaps Morales himself) is already well under way.

It will be interesting to monitor how Morales behaves himself; such comments are not ones made lightly, or only once. It will also be interesting to see how Ortega -- not known for his high tolerance of critics within his circle -- responds to Morales overtures. He is unlikely to heed Morales' suggestions, of course, so look for either Morales to step down sooner than later, or for Ortega to force him to moderate his remarks on the matter.

Sources: El Nuevo Diario, La Prensa, Reuters, Wikipedia

Daily Headlines: January 21, 2009

* Brazil: Despite being offered $139 million to leave A.C. Milan for Manchester City, Brazilian midfielder Kaká opted to stay put at the Italian club.

* Nicaragua: Days after his money laundering conviction was overturned ex-President Arnoldo Aleman said that he wants to run for the presidency.

* Mexico: Police found three suspected drug smuggling tunnels below the U.S.-Mexico border.

* Venezuela: According to the Los Angeles Times, Venezuelan indigenous leaders claim that Colombian guerillas cross the border and “live openly on or near several Indian reservations”.

Image- The Telegraph
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, Los Angeles Times, MSNBC, Sports Network, AP

Daily Headlines: January 19, 2009

* Chile: In light of harsh criticism from conservative groups, Ricardo Oyarzun defended his show where voluptuous models dress like the Virgin Mary.

* Nicaragua: The country’s Supreme Court overturned a 20-year corruption sentence against ex-president Arnoldo Aleman.

* Guatemala: According to police 26 women were killed in Guatemala this year, mostly due to gang-related violence.

* Venezuela: Morocco’s government will to close its embassy in Venezuela due to a Caracas’ stance over a land dispute in the North African nation.

Image- Jaunted
Online Sources- New York Times, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, IHT, Reuters

Daily Headlines: June 13, 2007

* Rest in peace Tito Gomez (image); the fifty-nine-year-old Puerto Rican was the lead singer of famed Colombian salseros Grupo Niche.

* The U.S. government is “not supporting, participating in, pushing for or subliminally urging any of the people that march” in favor of RCTV, claimed the U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela yesterday.

* El Salvador’s government confirmed that two army units stationed in Iraq came under insurgent fire, while nineteen Mexican soldiers will go on trial for the murders of five civilians who did not halt at an army checkpoint.

* Jamaican police believe that Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer was not murdered and instead died of natural causes.

* Ecuador’s president defended his economics minister who was caught in a second secret videotape, while ex-Nicaraguan president Arnoldo Aleman refused a planned amnesty for his money laundering conviction.

* Follow-up: Remember in October when we mentioned the rumors surrounding President Bush’s purchase of 100,000 acres of land in Paraguay? Now speculation is running over the purchase of millions of acres of land in Chile and Argentina by U.S. multimillionaire Douglas Tompkins.

Sources (Spanish)- El Diario/La Prensa

Sources (English)- ABCmoney.co.uk, MSNBC, Monsters & Critics, BBC News, People’s Daily Online, The Latin Americanist, Yahoo! News

Image- RPP