The World
Nicaraguan Bad Boy Ortega Is Back
Look who's making a political comeback. Daniel Ortega, who was President Reagan's foe as leader of Nicaragua's Sandinistas in the 1980s, is leading the field in the November 5 presidential race. Now 61, balding, and, by his account, more moderate, Ortega claims he would maintain good relations with Washington and even cooperate with the once despised International Monetary Fund.
Ortega led the 1979 revolution that toppled dictator Anastasio Somoza and headed the subsequent leftist government that Reagan viewed as a communist threat. About 50,000 Nicaraguans died in the war between the Sandinistas and the U.S.-backed contras before it ended with elections in 1990, in which Ortega lost to a U.S.-backed presidential candidate. He has since lost in two other elections but now holds a lead in the field of five candidates. Polls put Ortega close to the threshold-35 percent of the vote and a 5-point lead over his nearest rival-required to avoid a runoff.
In a twist on history, Ortega's running mate is former contras spokesman Jaime Morales, while two of his rivals are former comrades, including Eden Pastora, a legendary Sandinista fighter once known as Comandante Zero.
With Thomas Omestad and Thomas K. Grose in Britain
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