Ortega Denigrates Arias Nobel Peace Prize
by Rod Hughes, from media reports
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega Wednesday said publicly that Costa Rica’s President Oscar Arias did not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize he received in 1987 for his “peace offensive” in Central America that ended the bloody civil wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador during the 1980s.
The gratuitious attack seemed to take Arias somewhat aback when he appeared on national TV Thursday. Ortega stated flatly the the prize was more merited by Salvador’s then-president, the late Napoleon Duarte.
If Ortega’s style appears to smack of the blunt Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Ortega’s critics say this should be no surprise. The Nica Times of Nicaragua reported Friday that many feel Ortega is all too chummy with the flamboyantly outspoken South American.
Some point to the gift Ortega gave Chavez of two original manuscripts written by the great Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario—a gift that may have violated a law against exporting historical artifacts from Nicaragua.
Still, The Nica Times reports that Ortega, who was head of the leftist Sandinista regime in the 1980s, is receiving mixed reviews on his first two months in office. Many praise his cutting of government salaries and his directing funds toward social issues. And, the new president still is holding to his campaign promises of a mixed economy, very unlike the communist model followed by the Sandinsta regime.
Still, critics accuse him of violating several laws already in his administration of the country and worry that he may still have vestiges of the strongman style of yore, including a tendency to harshly criticize the press. Ortega’s bonding with Chavez only encourage these tendencies, his critics say.