NICARAGUA: 4 Police Injured In Anti-Ortega Protest.

AP / M.HERALD/

   Some 1,000 protesters marched thru the capital opposing President Daniel Ortega's decision to run again in November.
   At least four police were injured in clashes after some marchers threw stones when police tried to block the march.
   A much larger pro-Ortega demonstration was also held.

NICARAGUA/ VENEZUELA/ LIBYA : 23 Feb UPDATE: Prez.Ortega Calls Gadhafi To Express Solidarity; Gadhafi Didn't Flee To Caracas; Fidel Withholds Judgement.

AP/ M.HERALD /

    President Daniel Ortega (below with Fidel Castro) has called Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi several times... to express his solidarity.
    Ortega says Gadhafi "is again waging a great battle" to defend the unity of his nation.
    Earlier, there were rumors on Facebook and Twitter that Gadhafi fled to Venezuela to avoid  violent protests.
    On Libyan TV, Gadhafi said :"I want to show that I'm in Tripoli and not in Venezuela. Do not believe the channels belonging to stray dogs." He was seen holding an umbrella in the rain and leaning out of a vehicle.
The station claimed he was speaking outside his house.
    Chavez has been unusually quiet. Bolivia expressed concern over "the regrettable loss of many lives" and urging both sides to find a peaceful solution. Even Fidel Castro is hedging his bets.
  "You can agree or not with Gadhafi," Castro said. "The world has been invaded by all sorts of news ... We have to wait the necessary time to know with rigor how much is fact or lie."

     Hugo Chavez (pictured above) is said to be popular in the Muslim world and has visited Libya half a dozen times. Gadhafi visited Venezuela in 2009 and gave Chavez a large tent he uses to welcome foreign visitors.

     In 2009, Chavez proclaimed that  "Gadhafi is to Libya as Bolívar is to us, calling him a "revolutionary soldier," "a leader of of the Libyan revolution," and a "leader of all of Africa as well as Latin America."

NICARAGUA/VENEZUELA: WikiLeaks Reveals Chavez Tiring Of Giving Cash To Ortega.

MHERALD/ JIM WYSS/
   A fresh batch of WikiLeaks cables reveals that U.S. diplomats learned in 2006 that Nicaraguan officials toted suitcases of cash from Venezuela as part of an off-the-books aid effort that also was used to finance municipal campaigns.
     A more recent cable informed that there were ``indications that the Ortega-Chávez revolutionary partnership may be suffering a cold snap,'' the cable reads. ``Over three years, Chávez has supplied Ortega with nearly a billion dollars in badly-needed `assistance,' but Ortega's constant need for operating cash to offset forfeited donor assistance is likely now wearisome for Chávez who faces growing domestic difficulties.''

COLOMBIA/ NICARAGUA/ COSTA RICA: Ortega's Accusations Are Baseless Says Colombian Minister.

C.REPORTS/
   Colombia's Minister of Defense Rodrigo Rivera won't dignify a recent accusation from Nicaragua's President Ortega that Colombia is conspiring with others to "seize" the Caribbean to support drug trafficking activities.
   Ortega accused Colombia of spearheading a campaign within the OAS along with Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama and Guatemala because they "have an interest in drug trafficking."
   Ortega has threatened to withdraw from the OAS and says he will take the border dispute with Costa Rica to the World Court.

NICARAGUA: Ortega's Push For Third Term Opens Old Wounds And Challenges Democracy; OAS Vote Calls For All Security Forces Out From Disputed Border; Ortega Responds With Drug Smear.

NYTIMES/ BLAKE SCHMIDT /
   President Daniel Ortega's re-election efforts are re-opening old wounds.
   His opposition is trying to slow his progress on a third term despite a constitutional prohibition while Ortega's approval rating has risen to 45 percent after the government's Venezuelan-aided response to flooding that killed many and forced thousands from their homes.
  “Chávez is propping up Ortega’s dictatorship,” said former presidential candidate Fabio Gadea.

For more details on Ortega, also SEE EARLIER COVERAGE LINK  to T. Wilkinson of the LATIMES.
http://thehypervigilantobserver.blogspot.com/2010/08/nicaragua-cult-of-personality-on.html

RE: the border dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, the OAS voted 22-2 with 3 abstentions for the two nations to withdraw security forces from the disputed area and to hold talks to end the conflict.
FOR MORE, SEE:
 http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=377313&CategoryId=10718

JUST IN: Ortega has responded to the OAS decision by smearing Costa Rica's drug war policies. In a national address, he said that drug traffickers control Costa Rica's foreign policy and are against the presence of military troops on the Isla Calero. He also thanked Venezuela for its OAS support and for financing the dredging operation on the San Juan river. 
FOR MORE On Ortega's response, SEE: 
http://www.insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2010/november/14/costarica10111401.htm

COSTA RICA/HONDURAS/NICARAGUA: U.S. Names Trio As Drug Traffic Hubs.

M.HERALD/ TIM JOHNSON/
    For the first time, the U.S. has named Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua to its list of major drug-trafficking nations. Drug trafficking throughout Central America is a growing menace. Panama and Guatemala were placed on the list more than a decade ago. Of Central America's seven countries, only El Salvador and Belize still aren't considered major narcotics transshipment nations.
"This contamination, this epidemic, is across the region, and that's why it is important that we have more resources," said Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega. "It would be an investment, we say, by the United States, and I wish members of Congress would pay attention to this aspect."

NICARAGUA: Ortega Preparing For A Long Stay In Power, One Way Or The Other.

MCCLATCHY/ TIM JOHNSON /     Even though the constitution prevents President Daniel Ortega from seeking a new term next year, apparently he is planning to stay judging from the many billboards and murals announcing ``Daniel -- 2011.'' Last October Ortega won a ruling from a Supreme Court loaded with supporters that Article 147 of the constitution, which bans the reelection of a sitting president, doesn't apply to him.

NICARAGUA/VENEZUELA: Ortega Has Received At Least $1 Billion From Chavez Since 2007.

MCCLATCHY/ Tim Johnson /
           Since 2007, President Daniel Ortega has received at least $1 billion in no-strings-attached donations from an Hugo Chavez-brokered oil deal, helping Noriega to fight rural poverty, generate electricity and to ensure political support.

NICARAGUA: Cult Of Personality On Display At The "Danielismo" Museum.

LATIMES/ TRACY WILKINSON/    At the year-old  Museum of the Sandinista Victory in Managua, there are many images celebrating current President Daniel Ortega...and not much else.

WILKINSON: "Ortega has Forrest Gumped himself onto all the major battle lines of the struggle that dethroned dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979, carried the Sandinista movement to power and radically changed Nicaraguan history. As for all the other comandantes and major figures who shared in those events with similar or even more important roles?   "We have been erased," said Sergio Ramirez, the renowned writer and a member of the Sandinista government who served as vice president during Ortega's first term as president, from 1985 to 1990."

NICARAGUA: Ortega Defends ALBA Dependence On Venezuelan Trade.

GPOST/ TIM ROGERS /     "Since Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega returned to power three and a half years ago, exports to Venezuela have jumped by nearly 6,000 percent, from $2 million in 2006 to $119 million in 2009 — an amount that is projected to double again this year. Venezuela is now Nicaragua’s second-biggest export market behind the United States — a remarkably fast achievement considering three years ago Venezuela didn’t even rank in Nicaragua’s top 25."
AND: "Originally formed as a socialist alternative to U.S.-led free-trade advances in Latin America, ALBA has evolved into a Venezuelan-bankrolled effort to promote political, commercial and cultural unity among likeminded countries in Latin America. But five years after its inception, critics argue ALBA is little more than a clubhouse of impoverished nations dependent on Venezuelan oil and a political platform for Chavez’ arbitrary style of leadership."
(Foto of D.Ortega)

NICARAGUA: Former Prez. Aleman Selected To Challenge Ortega.

AP/GOOGLE/    Despite a lingering cloud of legal problems, former president Arnoldo Aleman, 64, accepted his party's nomination for a 2011 showdown against longtime rival and current President Daniel Ortega. The conservative Aleman and leftist Ortega have been battling since the mid 1990's. Polls show both are unpopular but Aleman's numbers are even more negative than Ortega's.
(Foto of  Arnoldo Aleman)

NICARAGUA: Ortega Threatens To Dissolve Congress.

AP/ MIAMI HERALD/ Frustrated by stalled supreme court appointments, President Daniel Ortega is threatening to do away with the country's unicameral National Assembly. "If you give me the word, I'll refound congress," Ortega said. "If the business council supports me, I'll rewrite it, I'll dissolve the National Assembly."

NICARAGUA: President Ortega's Supporters Violently Demonstrate Against Opposing Lawmakers.

AP/ MIAMI HERALD/   Hundreds of leftist President Daniel Ortega's supporters, urged on by two Supreme Court Justices, threw rocks and fireworks at a hotel where opposition lawmakers were meeting to overturn a decree extending the judges' terms. A politicized Supreme Court has overruled constitutional term limits, allowing the Ortega to run for another consecutive term. The Liberal Party has called Ortega's decree "a coup against the country's governmental institutions. The president does not have the authority to name justices," said a party statement. "The legislature does."

NICARAGUA: Where Life Can Be A Beach...With Some New Risks.

NYTIMES/
Former Sandinista rebel Daniel Ortega is president again and won a Supreme Court ruling that may enable him to extend his term and political uncertainties. But a realtor says, "Nicaragua is a heart buy for most people, not that it doesn’t make sense on paper. But people come here and they fall in love with the country, and that’s why they buy property."

NICARAGUA: " The Sandinistas Control Everything!"

NYTIMES/
“I feel the whole world is backward, The Sandinistas control everything. What can I do?" asked an opposition judge recently.
President Daniel Ortega, a former rebel leader who was president during the 1980s, has overrun the opposition in his bid to maintain power. He has solidified his party’s control of the courts, the electoral tribunal and the police, and he has manipulated the system. Nicaragua’s Constitution bans consecutive terms and limits presidents to holding the office only twice. But Ortega’s backers have pushed for constitutional changes in Congress that would have allowed his re-election.

Nicaragua's Radio Stations Struggle To Survive Ortega's Opposition.

KNIGHT CENTER FOR JOURNALISM IN THE AMERICAS.
Dozens on radio stations have lost revenue because of centralized state advertising controlled by President Daniel Ortega. Six stations have gone off the air in the past two years.
Media owners, journalists, and opposition politicians fear Ortega is silencing critics by shutting down stations.