Nicaraguan Former
President Aleman Vows to Oust Sandinistas
By Blake Schmidt
(Bloomberg) -- Former Nicaraguan President
Arnoldo Aleman said he’ll help attract
investment and unite a divided opposition
against President Daniel Ortega in a bid to
return to the presidency next year.
“I’ll be president again,” Aleman, a leader
of the Liberal Constitutionalist Party, said
in an interview late yesterday in Managua.
“Without investment, the economy goes
backward.”
Nicaragua’s US$6.6 billion economy
contracted about 1 percent last year on
falling remittances and trade with the U.S.,
Finance Minister Alberto Guevara said in a
Dec. 15 interview. Street clashes in
Nicaragua last year damped foreign
investment, which fell about 12 percent to
US$486 million, the American Chamber of
Commerce in Nicaragua said.
Aleman, a 64-year-old coffee baron who led
the Central American country from 1997 to
2002, said if elected he will build a
deep-sea port on the Caribbean coast, train
Nicaraguans for service-industry jobs and
consider withdrawing the country from Alba,
a Venezuelan-led bloc of socialist Latin
countries.
Aleman, whose 20-year sentence on corruption
charges was overturned by the country’s high
court a year ago, faces three graft probes
reopened last month by Nicaraguan judges.
The Supreme Court exempted Ortega, 64, from
a constitutional ban against seeking a third
term in October.
Venezuela Aid
Nicaragua has received US$925 million in
aid, oil and direct transfers from Venezuela
since Ortega took office in 2007, according
to the central bank. Aleman is among critics
who say the former guerrilla leader doesn’t
manage the aid transparently.
Aleman was ranked by Transparency
International among the world’s most corrupt
leaders. A Managua appeals court reopened
investigations against Aleman last month
involving the sale of a company, the
purchase of cattle and alleged tax fraud,
court spokesman Roberto Larios said by
phone. Aleman denied all allegations and
said he’s been persecuted politically.
“Nelson Mandela has also been imprisoned,”
he said in reference to the former South
African president and anti- apartheid
leader.
Critics including Kevin Casas-Zamora at the
Washington- based Brookings Institution, say
a 2003 corruption sentence against Aleman
was overturned last year under a
power-sharing pact with Ortega that allows
the two leaders to protect themselves from
legal troubles and fill institutions with
loyal followers.
Ortega Pact
“This is indeed part of the pact and
meant to help Ortega reelect himself by
making Ortega look more electable,” said
Casas-Zamora, a former vice president of
Costa Rica. “You have to pick between Aleman
and Ortega. It’s a pretty hard call, but
Ortega hasn’t been convicted,” Casas-Zamora
said.
Aleman denied the allegations and said
political brokering is legitimate.
“I’ve had my understandings with Ortega,”
Aleman said. “If you mean legislative
understandings, then yes, there is a pact.” |
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