Daniël... hij blijft voor beroering zorgen! Matthias vond het onderstaande artikel, en dat willen we jullie natuurlijk niet onthouden!

http://www.economist.co.uk/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11497005&CFID=9619713&CFTOKEN=74709756

Inglorious

Jun 5th 2008 | MANAGUA
From The Economist print edition

Daniel Ortega's lacklustre return

IN 1979 Daniel Ortega led a socialist revolution against a notorious military dictator, going on to rule Nicaragua as head of the Sandinista movement until 1990. Last year he became president again after winning an election against a divided opposition. But his return to power has been inglorious: in a recent poll only 21% of respondents approved of him. Now there are fears that he intends to stay in power indefinitely. “No to dictatorship” reads the slogan scrawled across hoardings in Managua, the capital.

Mr Ortega is treading a delicate path. He has secured cheap oil and other aid from Hugo Chávez in Venezuela without falling out with the United States or the IMF. But as the poorest country in Central America Nicaragua is hardly prospering. Inflation has reached 19% and investors have been scared off by the president's leftist rhetoric.

Only one of the eight other Sandinista leaders of the 1980s still supports Mr Ortega. His closest aide now is his wife, Rosario Murillo. She oversees many government functions, and runs the Councils of Citizen Power, new grassroots bodies that are touted as organs of “direct democracy”. These are supposed to help combat poverty but opponents say they undermine democratic institutions, including the police.

Mr Ortega's supporters hold only 40% of the seats in the National Assembly. He has relied on an unholy alliance with Arnoldo Alemán, a disgraced former president sentenced for corruption who leads one wing of the Liberal party. This cosy arrangement has now been threatened by the Liberals' recent decision to re-unite ahead of municipal elections due in November.

In April the Sandinista-controlled electoral authority suspended local elections on the Atlantic Coast, citing hurricane damage. Opponents say the government feared heavy defeat; the postponement prompted riots.

As Nicaragua increases its dependence on Venezuela's largesse, European donors are pulling out. The United States has built a big new embassy but offers less aid than Mr Chávez. In the 1980s America spent billions trying to overthrow the Sandinistas as part of its global tussle against communism. Now its interest has waned, with mixed results for the long-suffering people of Nicaragua.