Well Tuesday certainly was a bad day for the Republicans and US President George Bush, not only did they lose the House of Representatives and face the prospect of a lame duck presidency, but down in the jungles of Central American comes word of a name that will certainly snap everyone back to the early 1980's.
Echoes of the past came out of Central America Tuesday, as Daniel Ortega returned to power in Nicaragua 16 years after he was ousted after a US led rebellion.
The leader of the Sandinista Liberation Front defeated four other opponents on his way to the Presidency. He has toned down the leftist imagery over the years and hasn't been as outspokenly Marxist in his comments since his return to public life in the last few years. His electoral win however, does continue a trend of left leaning governments taking over in Central and South America of late.
Back in the days of Ronald Reagan, Oliver North and the contras, Ortega was probably the poster boy for all that the US stood against in Central America. Playing the role that Hugo Chavez seems to have taken on for himself with the current Bush Administration.
The US Administration says that they will respect the wishes of the Nicaraguan people and watch which policies the Ortega administration will put in place, before deciding how to handle future relations.
In the late seventies and into the eighties Ortega was the icon of the left, admired by those seeking a change to the system by way of the Sandinista agenda. One famous musical group was so taken by Ortega's politics that they named an album after his movement.
The Clash's, Sandinista was full of talk of revolution and Central American imagery, we imagine that had Joe Strummer not passed away, a Clash reunion would have made the perfect band for the inauguration. We're quite sure that the band that gave us Sandinista would kick off the celebration with this crowd favourite.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment