# Daniel Ortega likely to win presidency of Nicaragua -- implications? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 20, 2006, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-ortega-likely-to-win-presidency-of-nicaragua-implications/377218 "2006-10-20T13:49:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-ortega-likely-to-win-presidency-of-nicaragua-implications/377218/21 "2006-10-31T02:58:51Z")
[QUOTE=5 time champ] But one can’t help but think Bush would score a few points with paleoconservatives by rattlling a few sabres down Nicaragua way. [/QUOTE] With neoconservatives. Paleocons like Buchanan tend to be military isolationists. ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-ortega-likely-to-win-presidency-of-nicaragua-implications/377218/22 "2006-10-31T04:02:57Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Then why has the Bush Admin been [spending money to influence the election?](http://www.americas.org/item_26923) [/QUOTE] I’m just curious. What would be the US’ reaction to a foriegn country spending money to influence elections in the US? ---
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-ortega-likely-to-win-presidency-of-nicaragua-implications/377218/23 "2006-10-31T15:50:00Z")
[QUOTE=CBEscapee] I’m just curious. What would be the US’ reaction to a foriegn country spending money to influence elections in the US? [/QUOTE] I think we offer them intercontinental missile technology. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-ortega-likely-to-win-presidency-of-nicaragua-implications/377218/24 "2006-10-31T17:12:37Z")
[QUOTE=CBEscapee] I’m just curious. What would be the US’ reaction to a foriegn country spending money to influence elections in the US? [/QUOTE] Too lazy to look it up, but I thought during the recent presidential election, several foriegn groups (not governments, true) DID spend money to attempt to influence the elections in the US. There are also foreign PAC type groups IIRC that spend money on various politicians to influence things…and at a guess, SOME of them are probably funded by some government or other. Again, IIRC, the reation was mostly Ho Hum…at least from the government itself. Groups like Fox News or other such groups weren’t as calm about it. Could be misremembering though. -XT ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-ortega-likely-to-win-presidency-of-nicaragua-implications/377218/25 "2006-11-01T21:25:09Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme] What, do you think that this is some new trend, that socialism is sweeping Central/South America or something? [/QUOTE] Well, yes. Not “socialism” as Castro would define it, perhaps, but the recent electoral trends in LA strongly favor leftist parties, with the notable exception of Colombia. Is it not so? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-ortega-likely-to-win-presidency-of-nicaragua-implications/377218/26 "2006-11-01T21:28:04Z")
No, I don’t think its some new trend…just the same old shit on a different day. YMMV BG. -XT ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-ortega-likely-to-win-presidency-of-nicaragua-implications/377218/27 "2006-11-01T21:57:32Z")
Latin America is definitley turning more towards the left. Lula just won an impressive victory. Chavez, Morales, Kirchner, Vasquez and Batchelet. We just missed here in a very controversial election. ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-ortega-likely-to-win-presidency-of-nicaragua-implications/377218/28 "2006-11-02T21:20:34Z")
There is an uproar in Nicaragua over the US meddling in the elections. Even Oliver North has gone to Managua to support the rightwing candidate. I would think that _hijo de puta_ would be considered persona non grata in Nicaragua. The US frequently denies politicians and other foreigners with political agendas at odds with US interests from entering the US. Why Nicaragua allows someone who encouraged and participated in terrorism against their country entry is very interesting. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-ortega-likely-to-win-presidency-of-nicaragua-implications/377218/29 "2006-11-02T21:49:01Z")
[Twenty Years After Iran-Contra, Washington’s Role In Nicaragua Still a Scandal](http://www.cepr.net/columns/weisbrot/2006_11_02) > [@](#): > > Imagine Osama bin Laden visiting the United States ten or 15 years from now, telling Americans who to vote for if they want to avoid getting hurt. It would never happen, but in Nicaragua something very similar is happening in the run-up to their election on November 5. > > Former US Lt. Col. Oliver North, who helped organize and raise funds for a terrorist organization that decimated Nicaragua in the 1980s, returned to that country’s ground zero in late October to warn the citizens there against re-electing Daniel Ortega. > > Ortega first came to power in a 1979 revolution led by the Sandinistas, which overthrew the brutal Washington-backed dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza. The Somoza family had ruled the country since US Marines invaded and occupied Nicaragua from 1927-1933. Much more at source… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-ortega-likely-to-win-presidency-of-nicaragua-implications/377218/30 "2006-11-04T18:10:11Z")
Well, the election’s tomorrow. And apparently a lot of Nicaraguans are [resentful over U.S. interference.](http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=winterOlympics&storyID=2006-11-02T192323Z_01_N29310891_RTRUKOC_0_US-NICARAGUA-ELECTION.xml) > [@xtisme](#): > > No, I don’t think its some new trend…just the same old shit on a different day. Left wing political movements are nothing new in LA. But for them to win in free elections, in many countries at once – that’s a **new** thing. What in the U.S. we would call a “trend” or even a “realignment.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-ortega-likely-to-win-presidency-of-nicaragua-implications/377218/31 "2006-11-06T19:25:59Z")
[Looks like Ortega won it!](http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20714722-1702,00.html) What now? ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-ortega-likely-to-win-presidency-of-nicaragua-implications/377218/32 "2006-11-07T13:54:10Z")
Next he will have a visit from the Chinese. Followed by a jamboree in Peking (I can’t bring myself to use modern spellings) He will be promised covert support, no internal political caveats, trade via defined conduits and some major capital projects that will ensure popular approbation. In effect, the Chinese have re-discovered British imperialism after about 1860 1. We give you personally a military guarantee (and plenty of cash) 2. We give you collectively a source of income 3. We give you major projects that make you look good - and ensure that they are not sabotaged by domestic theft/incompetence I think the phrase is ‘Holistic Regime Support’ - my bet is that 48 African heads of state are very happy It would be next stop South America, if they had not already done the first round last year, dropping $3 Billion where ever they landed. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-ortega-likely-to-win-presidency-of-nicaragua-implications/377218/33 "2006-11-07T18:42:34Z")
Why do the Chinese need to buy friends in South America? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-ortega-likely-to-win-presidency-of-nicaragua-implications/377218/34 "2006-11-08T01:22:40Z")
[Montealegre has conceded to Ortega,](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/07/AR2006110700235.html) so I guess that’s that. Of course, Nicaragua remains a member of [DR-CAFTA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAFTA) . . . putting it firmly within the U.S. sphere of economic influence . . . I wonder how Ortega’s going to deal with that . . . ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-ortega-likely-to-win-presidency-of-nicaragua-implications/377218/35 "2006-11-08T11:47:55Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Why do the Chinese need to buy friends in South America? [/QUOTE] Raw materials. The Chinese are snapping up supplies of raw materials all over the place. Last year (or maybe earlier this year) one of their top dogs went on a tour of South America and was dropping $2 billion tranches all over the place. Stuff like oil and opening up/expanding ore mines. They even did a $2b deal with Cuba. A nickel mine. This is a 2004 link - but it gives the jist of what is going on :- > **[Yahoo Search - Web Search](https://in.search.yahoo.com/?fr2=inr)** > > The search engine that helps you find exactly what you're looking for. Find the most relevant information, video, images, and answers from all across the Web. > [@](#): > > HAVANA (Reuters) - When Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Cuba next week, he will be greeted by entreaties for badly needed investment and political support for a communist ally that faces mounting U.S. hostility. > > Cuban President Fidel Castro on Tuesday lauded China as the new “engine of the world economy” that would eclipse the United States, and said Cuba was looking for Chinese backing to help double its nickel production. They can sure afford it, with a $1 Trillion war chest. My understanding is that the deals are primarily commercial, but there is a side deal - getting support in the UN - mainly to intimidate Taiwan - but probably also because they are fed up with the US squawking about ‘uman rites’. Actually their policy looks very sensible to me, eventually they will want to trade with people who have something material to supply in return - large consumer markets who can pay for manufactures with raw materials. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daniel-ortega-likely-to-win-presidency-of-nicaragua-implications/377218.md?page=1)