Election Update II

WOWZERS!!!

Well he won. Daniel Ortega will be back in office this coming January. It is almost hard to believe that it is even possible for him to come back to Presidency in Nicaragua. I feel like it is crazy that one person, who has already served 10 years as President in this country, is allowed to run again. This is so opposite of our system in the US. Yesterday the newspaper read, ORTEGA GANO! (Ortega Won!) Whoa was all I could think. I don’t know why I am so affected by this, but I feel like it is huge. It feels so strange to me that the people would want to reelect somebody who was President during such a terrible time in their history. Then I remember that the people lived under a 40-year dictatorship, and it starts to make more sense that the people would love Ortega for freeing them from the Somoza era.

Since the above article was written, Montealegre (The candidate for the ALN) officially recognized Ortega's win. There was a live telecast of his speech last night on the Tele. You could hear it perfectly clear if you were standing in the middle of the street as everyone was in his or her house watching the same thing at the same time. The moment that Montealegre conceded, you could hear people cheering from their homes, and there were fireworks being set off in the street. Ortega had officially won. After Montealegre spoke, Ortega took the stand to speak for the first time about his upcoming term. His main points were focused on his plan to alleviate the extreme poverty in Nicaragua, as well as his intentions to keep an open economy so that international business could continue in Nicaragua. He said that he is planning to recognize CAFTA and maintain the level of commerce that has grown since his last term in the 1980's. This statement was huge for the people of Nicaragua, and a sign that Ortega has changed and is not going to return to his old ways. During his last Presidency, there was no commercial business. There were no stores, no clothing, no cosmetics, specialty food stores, nothing. Only a market and of course trades people who would make your shoes, clothes, items for the house, etc. Ortega will need to prove to the people that things can be different for the advancement of Nicaragua.

When I went to buy the Prensa (The only Nicaraguan newspaper) announcing Ortega’s victory, the person in the store asked me why my country was denying that the elections here were valid. To me, this was a more complex question. What I heard was, Why does your country think that we cannot run an election on our own? Why does your country think that we would not vote for Ortega? What kind of pressure is your country going to put on us now? The people here are very concerned about the reaction the US will have with Ortega’s win. The people here are also very aware of how the outside world can place pressure on them and how this can completely turn their lives upside down. This is an awareness that is constantly in the air. People here know how it feels to be oppressed and to be directly affected by the decisions of their President and Government. The entire country is the size of New York State and has the rough population of 5.5 million people. It is different for us. In the States, I feel things don’t change so drastically from one President to the next. I don’t feel like we, as the people, are as directly affected by our government’s decisions. Here, the entire economy can flip, drop out from the bottom, and the people’s lives can change overnight. Once again, Nicaragua is Volatile. Nicaragua is an explosive country. And I am continuously amazed at how the fire continues to burn.

Tonight we had dinner with a Nicaraguan family. I asked them why Ortega would still want to run for President after loosing the last three elections. I wondered what it is that Ortega wants to do so desperately that he thinks other leaders would not be able to accomplish. Their response was simply that this is how dictators think. This surprised me. I thought to myself, Ortega was not a dictator. He was in office legally for two consecutive terms. But, as I said in my last entry, these years were really hard for Nicaragua, and the people have a very fresh and real memory of the economic hardship experienced throughout the 80’s. I have heard many people say that they are scared the US will follow through with placing economic sanctions on Nicaragua. The people are nervous of how this could affect their livelihood as well as the commerce. I have also heard people say that they are nervous the tourist industry will fall, and that tourists and extranjeros are no longer going to want to visit Nicaragua. Today, Kevin and I were in the Market and a couple asked us if we were going to stay in Nicaragua past December. To me this question was indicative of the fear for what might come when Daniel Ortega is in office. On the other hand, 40% of the population voted for him, so there is a percentage of the population that believes he will do good things for the country.

When people ask me what I think, I pretty much always respond with, “What is best for Nicaragua.” It seems to be the easiest way to stay neutral in this currently politically divided country. The New York Times and BBC say that the US is threatening economic sanctions on Nicaragua. We will see if this actually happens. If it does, I would be surprised to see how this decision would also affect the US as they are benefiting very nicely off of the CAFTA agreement, as well as by having peaceful relations with Central America. I don’t know if the United States could handle another enemy in the world today. I will also be interested to hear what the US thinks of the relationship between Chavez (Venezuelan President) and Ortega. I wonder if Ortega will start to feel pressure from the South to act against the US. I wonder if the US will try to develop a new relationship with Ortega in hopes of relieving some of the tension between Chavez and Bush, or the US and Venezuela. I have many questions. Ortega’s platform seems to be centered on good things. We will see what the future and Daniel Ortega will bring for Nicaragua.

So, how is all of this affecting our work in Nicaragua? Well, so far we do not feel that this election should affect our work or our mission for being here. The only thing that could happen is that we would need to leave the country at some point. There is no sign that we would need to leave. So, for now we will continue to do the work we came here to do.