Richard Feinberg Quoted on U.S.'s Limited Influence in Nicaragua
Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega renominated for president, despite term limits
02/28/2011
Tim Rogers,
The Christian Science Monitor
President Daniel Ortega on Saturday accepted his party's nomination for the presidency, even though his reelection is barred by the Constitution.
Despite an outcry over the allegedly fraudulent presidential bid, early polls show Mr. Ortega is favored to win the November election. And given Nicaragua’s bleak political panorama, the Sandinista strongman is increasingly considered the least-bad option here – at least by the country’s sizable poor population that has benefited from new social programs and government handouts.
“I don’t think that the Nicaraguan citizen relates to the issue of legality or legitimacy as long as fundamental services are provided in an immediate way – and this government is very effective in delivering the fundamentals,” says Arturo Cruz, a political science professor at INCAE Business School and Ortega’s former ambassador to the United States.
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Richard Feinberg can comment on U.S. foreign policy matters, notably with regard to Latin America and Asia, and business and economic matters.
