The U.S. and Nicaragua are Playing Nicely These Days

Please don't write me and complain about Daniel Ortega's dalliances with Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, etc. we all know why he is doing it. Even the U.S. government, it seems, is willing to give Ortega a chance and says the two countries are now playing nicely together in the hemispheric playground.

While Nicaragua prepares to celebrate the 28th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution, a leading U.S. official has described the once-antagonistic relations with President Daniel Ortega as friendly.

"We believe we have established a good working relationship with the Ortega government," said Thomas Shannon, the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. Answering journalists' questions as part of the White House Conference on the Americas, Shannon also said that the U.S. is not alarmed by Ortega's growing closeness to Venezuela and Iran.

"We believe this is a sovereign decision of Nicaragua," Shannon said. "As long as this decision respects our hemispheric commitment to promote and defend democracy, protect human rights, and acknowledge, in the case of Iran, UN Security Council resolutions, these links will not have a negative impact on our bilateral relations."

Ortega's rise to power in the 1980s was seen as a communist threat to the region, prompting the Reagan administration to fund Contra rebels meant to oust the Sandinista government. On July 19, hundreds of thousands of Sandinista supporters are expected to fill the Plaza de Revolución in Managua to commemorate the final uprising that overthrew the U.S.-backed Somoza dictatorship. Dressed in army fatigues, Ortega would often use these occasions to vow resistance to " yanqui aggression."

But the former guerilla commander has clearly moderated his views this time around. Wearing a white cotton shirt, Ortega speaks of outside investment in Nicaragua as a way to build the economy and eradicate poverty. Besides improved relations with the U.S. government, Ortega announced this weekend that his administration is close to signing a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"The discussions have been very productive," the IMF said in a statement, adding that the loan program, once approved, will help reduce poverty and maintain economic stability over the next three years.

Your Latin America Insider,

Suzan Haskins
for International Living

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