In Echoes of Past Intervention, Bush Administration Opposes Nicaraguan Frontrunner Daniel

Election monitors from the Organization of American States have warned the Bush administration not to interfere in the upcoming presidential election in Nicaragua. The Bush administration has openly opposed the front-runner Daniel Ortega. The Sandinista leader is trying to regain power for the first time since 1990.

The OAS singled out Paul Trivelli, the U.S. ambassador to Nicaragua, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez for meddling in the November 5th election. In recent weeks a number of current and former U.S. officials have warned about the consequences of an Ortega victory. On Tuesday Oliver North traveled to Nicaragua and said a victory by Ortega would be “the worst thing” for the country. North is the former White House aide who was at the center of the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s when the Reagan administration secretly helped arm the Contras to fight Ortega and the Sandinistas.

Last week U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said an Ortega win could scare off foreign investors and jeopardize Nicaragua’s participation in CAFTA. Three weeks ago Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Nicaragua but denied he was meddling in the election.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: “I don't get involved in politics in the United States so you can be certain that I'm not going to get involved in politics in Nicaragua.”

Last month Republican Congressman Dan Burton also visited the country and warned that foreign aid would be cut off if Ortega was elected. Criticism of the interference from Washington is increasing. Over 1,000 U.S. citizens recently signed an open letter to the U.S. embassy in Nicaragua. It read in part: ‘The United States cannot claim to support free and fair elections while it attempts to control and manipulate the voting in Nicaragua.’

The open letter was published as an ad in two of the country’s largest newspapers. Meanwhile Daniel Ortega has criticized his opponents of being too close to Washington.

Daniel Ortega: "They are all the same, they are all financed by the North Americans, they are all backed by the capitalist media - who accumulate their capital through savage capitalism. They are who they are backed by. They are all taking over and delegating themselves and saying they are going to the best administrators, to those that have forced savage capitalism onto Nicaragua.”

On Wednesday, Nicaraguan attorney and human rights activist Vilma Nunez testified on Capitol Hill about the U.S. role in her country. In the 1970s, she was held as political prisoner during the Somoza dictatorship. Vilma Nunez became the first female judge in Nicaragua and now serves as the President of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights. She joins us now from Washington D.C. together with Katherine Hoyt who will help with translation -- Katherine is the national Coordinator of the Nicaragua Network.

* Vilma Nunez. Lawyer and prominent human rights defender for over 40 years. She was a political prisoner under the dictatorship of Somoza in Nicaragua - then served as the Vice President of the Supreme Court of Justice during the 1980s. Dr. Nunez was first woman Judge in the history of Nicaragua. Currently she is the President of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights and serves as the Vice President of the International Human Rights Federation.

* Katherine Hoyt. National Coordinator of the Nicaragua Network.

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