Nicaraguan guerrilla leader and president (198490, 2006 ), born in La Libertad, C Nicaragua. He studied at the University of Central America, Managua, and joined the Sandinista National Liberation Front in 1963, becoming national director in 1966. He was imprisoned for seven years for urban guerrilla bank raids, and played a major part in the overthrow of Anastasio Somoza in 1979, becoming president in 1984. By 1989 there were encouraging signs of peace being achieved, but he lost the 1990 general election to Violeta Chamorro and the 1996 election to Arnoldo Aleman. In November 2006 he won a decisive victory over his Conservative rival, Eduardo Montealegre, to gain the presidency for a second time.
|
|
|
| President of Nicaragua | |
|---|---|
|
In office January 10, 1985 – April 25, 1990 |
|
| Preceded by | Junta of National Reconstruction |
| Succeeded by | Violeta Barrios de Chamorro |
| Born |
November 11, 1945 La Libertad, Chontales |
| Political party | Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional |
José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (born 11 November 1945) is the current president-elect of Nicaragua. After a popular rebellion resulted in the defeat and exile of Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979, Ortega became a member of the ruling junta and was later elected president, serving from 1985 to 1990. Ortega was defeated by Violeta Barrios de Chamorro in the 1990 presidential election, but he remained an important figure in Nicaraguan politics.
Personal Life
Early years
Ortega was born to a middle-class family in La Libertad, department of Chontales.
The Sandinista Revolution (1979-1990)
Junta of National Reconstruction
For more details on Ortega’s past presidency, see Sandinista National Liberation Front.
When Somoza was overthrown by the FSLN in July 1979, Ortega became a member of the five-person Junta of National Reconstruction, which also included Sandinista militant Moisés Hassan, novelist Sergio Ramírez Mercado, businessman Alfonso Robelo Callejas, and wife of a journalist Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (associated with the newspaper La Prensa).
In 1981, U.S. President Ronald Reagan condemned the FSLN for joining with Soviet-backed Cuba in supporting Marxist revolutionary movements in other Latin American countries such as El Salvador.
In November 1984, Ortega called national elections;
Interim years
In the 1990 presidential election, Ortega lost to Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, his former colleague in the junta.
Ortega ran for election again, in October 1996 and November 2001, but lost on both occasions. In Ortega’s last days as president, through a series of legislative acts known as “The Piñata”, estates that had been seized by the Sandinista government (some valued at millions and even billions US$) became the private property of various FSLN officials, including Ortega himself.
Current activities
FSLN - PLC Alliance on Congress
Ortega continues to lead the Sandinista party, which holds 43 seats in the National Assembly, making it the country's second largest party. Daniel Ortega was instrumental in creating the controversial strategic pact between the FSLN and the Constitutional Liberal Party (Partido Liberal Constitucionalista, PLC). "El Pacto," as it is known in Nicaragua, is said to have personally benefited former presidents Ortega and Alemán greatly, while constraining current president Enrique Bolaños.
2006 Presidential Election
A Presidential election was held on November 5, 2006. FSLN presidential candidate Ortega was the victor in the November elections, having attained 37.99% of the votes cast. Following his election, Ortega was congratulated by Hugo Chávez, the president of Venezuela, and Fidel Castro, the president of Cuba..
Herty Lewites— who was also running for president prior to his death in July 2006 —suggested that Ortega's pact with Alemán had given Ortega de facto control of the bodies responsible for administering the election, and thus that Ortega would most likely have been the winner.
User Comments Add a comment…