by Rod Hughes
Five Central American presidents celebrated the 20th anniversary Wednesday of the signing of peace accords that brought the region’s ruinous and bloody civil wars to a close, while the sixth president, Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, sniped from Managua.
Ortega, who did not attend the event due to “agenda conflicts,” according to his Foreign Ministry, did not send his congratulations to Costa Rican President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias. Instead, he repeated his insistence that the prize really belonged to then-Guatemalan President Vinico Cerezas. Arias, who was not about to let Ortega spoil his commemoration, asked his foreign minister to respond to press questions about Ortega.
Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno was only too happy, noting that Costa Rica was always open to dialogue but that Ortega’s schedule seemed to be very complicated indeed when it came to get-togethers with this country.
The Nicaraguan president also accused Arias of using the United States “to conspire against us.”
Arias himself during a ceremonial address referred to “those who dream of playing the role of Lenin, of Fidel Castro, of Che Guevara” in Latin America. He mentioned no names but he has long been critical of Ortega, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuba’s Fidel Castro.
Ironically, Nicaragua has ratified the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States and it has been observed that Ortega would like nothing more than to see this country turn down CAFTA in the October referendum so his country could woo foreign investments that would ordinarily go to Costa Rica. But Ortega’s own chumminess with Chavez may serve as a red flag to many foreign businessmen.