On 10/15/06, Michael Hoover <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On 10/15/06, Yoshie Furuhashi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Term limits may help. So far, almost all socialist leaders whom
> revolution elevated to the highest office of their country have acted
> as the faqih for their respective nation, ruling for their lifetime.
> Yoshie
<<<<<>>>>>
and in at least one instance following counter-revolution former
president of post-revolutionary state (yeah, yeah, i know 1980s
nicaragua wasn't socialist)has become perennial losing candidate..
not generally a term limits person myself, but there are times when it
would be quite useful, ortega really needs to go... mh
I haven't been following the Nicaraguan election campaigns this year,
but apparently Daniel Ortega is leading in the polls:
<blockquote>Right now, Ortega leads in most polls, but he is not the
shoo-in some fear. After decades of misrule, many Latin Americans are
leery of the populist left. Chavista candidates were defeated in
recent elections in Peru and Mexico.
Two candidates have a chance to stop Ortega: Eduardo Montealegre, who
leads the National Liberal Alliance ticket, and Edmundo Jarquín, a
former official of the Inter-American Development Bank, who inherited
the nomination of the Sandinista Renovation Movement (the anti-Ortega
Sandinista party) upon the July 2, 2006, death of Herty Lewites.
Former Vice President José Rizo -- who is supported by former
President Arnoldo Alemán -- has no chance of being elected
notwithstanding support from interested outsiders.
Nicaragua has been hit hard by spiraling oil prices, and the country
has experienced blackouts in the middle of the presidential campaign,
yet Ortega, Rizo, and Jarquín appear to be flush with cash thanks to
donations from Chávez. The Venezuelan President's pledge of cheap oil
and donations of fertilizer through a network of Sandinista mayors --
as well as rumored cash contributions -- have given Ortega in
particular a decided advantage.
The candidate with the fewest resources by far, Montealegre appears to
be the candidate with the greatest commitment to democratic values and
honest government. A capable technocrat who served as foreign minister
under Alemán and as finance minister under current president Enrique
Bolaños, he is the only one favorably disposed to the United States.
Most experienced Nicaragua-watchers agree that if Montealegre gets the
resources he desperately needs in the next few weeks to run a credible
campaign, demonstrate his viability, and unify the Liberal vote, he
can hand Ortega his fourth electoral defeat. (Roger F. Noriega, "Back
by Unpopular Demand: Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega," 9 October 2006,
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/08/AR2006100800926.html>)</blockquote>
The WP clarifies whom we shouldn't support, but whom would you support
if you were a Nicaraguan?
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>
