Tuesday, November 07, 2006



Ortega wins in Nicaragua

Nicaragua went to the polls on Sunday, and according to the partial results published so far, Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega looks to be headed for a first-round victory, leading 40.1% to 32.72% over his nearest rival. So, there will likely be a left-wing government just two days' driving time from Harlingen, Texas. Take that, Oliver North!

Meanwhile, the US, who had openly supported Ortega's rivals during the campaign, and threatened to cut off aid and the flow of remittances from Nicaraguans in the US if he won, is now implying fraud. This despite the fact that election monitors from the OAS have declared that they took place "in accordance with the law" and Jimmy Carter has praised the process so far (the Carter Centre will give its official verdict later tonight). But I guess its just a taste of things to come. The US has already shown in Palestine that it will not accept democracy if the voters make the "wrong" choice, and at the moment it doesn't look like it will accept it in Nicaragua either.

3 comments:

Good news for Nicaragua, bad news for the Neocons, who seem to be getting a lot of it these days. How is it that the US can blatantly interfear in a foreign country's election? What right do these assholes think they have to do this? Shouldn't this be brought before the UN and the OAS? Imagine if they tried doing this to France or Germany? Where is the protest in the US media against this outrageous behavior.? (But with this last comment, I am joking of course...)

Posted by Larry Gambone : 11/07/2006 12:10:00 PM

And bad news for any woman in Nicaragua who needs an abortion. This is some kind of new Left.

Posted by Anonymous : 11/07/2006 02:23:00 PM

yeah Ortega is pretty hard to love now days still - recognize this - he's probably the least worst option. Apparently the only political movement in Nicaragua to oppose the abortion law was a Sandanista splinter group.

Posted by Anonymous : 11/07/2006 07:45:00 PM