a big shout out to the Bush's from Daniel Ortega
A relatively unnoticed fallout of the Bush administration's ability to rally the world against us, was the recent election of Daniel Ortega, scion of the Sandinistas, back into the Presidency of Nicaraugua. Actually, I thought he was hosting 'Back to the 80s' for VH1. I really didn't know he was running again.
Of course Ortega is going to form a new axis of near-evil with Chavez of Venuzuela and Fidel 'I'm not dead yet' Castro. Apparently democracy is good for the Iraqis, but we're not quite so sure about the will of the people if they keep electing thugs like Ortega.
Maybe the Bushies should have endorsed Ortega
Of course Ortega is going to form a new axis of near-evil with Chavez of Venuzuela and Fidel 'I'm not dead yet' Castro. Apparently democracy is good for the Iraqis, but we're not quite so sure about the will of the people if they keep electing thugs like Ortega.
U.S. officials have publicly censured Ortega, attempted to unify his opposition, and threatened that an Ortega win would endanger U.S. financial support. The continuous intervention, however, has failed to unite Nicaragua's divided right or significantly detract from Ortega's base....(snip)
In a last-ditch effort to undermine Ortega, U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, chairman of the House's International Relations Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation, sent a letter on Friday, October 27, to Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security. Rohrabacher enjoined Chertoff "to prepare in accordance with U.S. law, contingency plans to block any further money remittances from being sent to Nicaragua in the event that the FSLN enters government." The nearly half million Nicaraguans currently living in the U.S. send around $500 million each year to their family members in Nicaragua, according to Nicaraguan economist Nestor Avendaño.
snip
Rohrabacher's letter is but one voice in a recent cacophony of U.S. meddling. Headlines of the last week have been laden with unsolicited U.S. opinions on Daniel Ortega and the sort of President Nicaraguans should want. The day after Rohrabacher sent his letter, Florida governor Jeb Bush authored a letter published in a La Prensa paid ad. Bush's letter declares that Nicaraguans must choose between a "tragic step towards the past," which he identifies as the "totalitarianism" of the Sandinistas, and "a vision towards the future." Jeb Bush's own vision for Nicaragua's future is revealed at the bottom of the ad, where the Alianza Liberal Nicaraguense party, which is running the U.S.-preferred presidential candidate Eduardo Montealegre, is named as the ad's sponsor.
Maybe the Bushies should have endorsed Ortega
