Ortega returns to power in Nicaragua

updated 7:55 p.m. ET Jan. 10, 2007

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Former revolutionary Daniel Ortega was sworn in as Nicaragua’s president Wednesday, ending his two-decade fight to return to power with promises to maintain relations with the United States while building a leftist coalition with some of Washington’s top enemies.

Wearing his signature white, button-down shirt, the cuffs rolled up his elbows, Ortega took the oath of office at a plaza he constructed as president in the 1980s — the same place where he conceded electoral defeat to Violeta Chamorro in 1990 after a turbulent decade in power marked by food rationing and civil war.

Ortega has promised a delicate balance between taking a moderate economic and social stance while cultivating close relationships with U.S. opponents such as Venezuelan Hugo Chavez and the communist Cuban government. Ortega was once one of the most bitter foes of Washington, which secretly backed a rebel insurgency aimed at toppling him.

Chavez, who has called President Bush the “devil,” used his inaugural visit to play up his support of Nicaragua, promising the impoverished nation 32 desperately needed electricity plants, low-interest loans to the poor from a branch of his state development bank and help in improving the country’s health and education systems.

Another guest was Bolivian President Evo Morales, a close ally of Chavez and ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Morales has expressed doubts about the U.S. drug war efforts in the Andean region and recently announced that U.S. citizens would need visas to visit Bolivia. The U.S. is wary of Morales’ ties to Chavez and Castro.

Castro didn’t attend because of his health, but Ortega has already sought close ties with the communist island, attending Castro’s delayed 80th birthday celebrations in December.

U.S.: 'Desire to work with you'
Nicaraguan officials initially said that hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has defied international criticism of his country’s nuclear program, also planned to attend. They later said Ahmadinejad would not be coming, and that a lower-level representative would take his place.

The U.S. has reluctantly welcomed Ortega’s promises to respect private property and continue free trade agreements. Late Tuesday, Ortega chatted comfortably with Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, who was heading the U.S. inaugural delegation. Before entering a private, 30-minute meeting, the two exchanged pleasantries about the weather and expressed their desire to maintain strong ties.

“I want to make very clear that our desire is to work with you,” Leavitt told Ortega.

Ortega said he hoped the visit was the “first of several” and he described a phone call he had with Bush on Monday as a “very pleasant and positive conversation.”

Ortega was part of a junta that took power of Nicaragua in 1979. He was president from 1985-1990. Under his rule, Nicaragua descended into economic chaos under radical economic policies that included property seizures.

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