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Ortega said to be seeking talks with Washington
By Mauricio Rabuffetti
AFP
WASHINGTON
Petroleumworld.com 14 11 06
Nicaragua President-elect and former US foe Daniel Ortega has proposed formal talks with Washington, where the idea is viewed favorably, diplomatic sources told AFP.
Ortega "formally proposed, via foreign interlocutors, the need to open a formal dialogue with US authorities, with an open agenda," the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The proposal was presented at the State Department, where it was well received, they said.
Ortega, 61, was the Marxist leader of the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front that ousted US-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979. The Soviet-backed Sandinista government seized private assets, distributed land to poor farmers and battled US-financed Contra rebels throughout the 1980s.
He was voted out of power in 1990 the end of a bloody civil war against US-backed Contra rebels, and lost two subsequent presidential elections, before prevailing in the election earlier this month to succeed outgoing President Enrique Bolanos on January 10.
During his campaign against US-backed conservative rival Eduardo Montealegre, Ortega toned down his revolutionary rhetoric. But Washington, and particularly its ambassador in Managua, urged Nicaraguans to defeat him.
Afterward his victory was said to mark a new erosion of US influence in the region, but then the State Department said it wanted to establish "positive relations" with his government.
Ortega is part of a growing list of leftist leaders in Latin America, headed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Cuban counterpart Fidel Castro.
Both of those leaders applauded his election this month.
Castro, once a staunch supporter of the Sandinista administration, congratulated Ortega for his "grandiose victory," in a statement read over Cuban television.
The Cuban leader branded Ortega's triumph a "Sandinista victory that fills our people with happiness and the terrorist and genocidal government of the United States with dishonor." Venezuela's Chavez, meanwhile, congratulated Ortega by telephone after the vote.
But Ortega has signaled a possible break with at least some of the Marxist policy and ideology of the past.
Just last week he held meetings with leading bankers, financiers and foreign investors, saying Nicaragua "is open" to their money. He also met with political opposition leaders and Catholic church officials in a show of good will.
Washington, for its part, has not formally congratulated Ortega on his election win, but said last week that the United States looks forward to "positive relations" with the new government in Managua.
"We respect the decision of the Nicaraguan people and we look forward to establishing positive relations with Mr. Ortega and his new government," said Erik Watnik, a US State Department spokesman last week.
"As we have said, we will work with those leaders based on their actions in support Nicaragua's democratic future," Watnik said.
AFP 13 1754 GMT 11 06
Copyright© 2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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