Ortega Tries to Join the Axis
of Evil
By Mary Anastasia O'Grady,
Wall Street Journal
Supporters of Nicaraguan President Daniel
Ortega were in the streets of Managua last
week firing on a hotel, burning cars, and
otherwise trying to intimidate opposition
members of Congress. The mob was mobilized
because the legislature is standing in the
way of a Hugo Chávez-style power grab by Mr.
Ortega.
Shades of Honduras: Last year Honduran
President Manuel Zelaya had similar
aspirations, ran into the same problem, and
tried the same solution—violence.
Fortunately the Honduran military stepped in
to stanch the flow of blood by deporting
him. U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens was
disappointed, but the Honduran democracy was
saved. Nicaraguans may not be so lucky.
In a liberal democracy when there are
disagreements between the legislature, the
courts and the executive, the constitution
is the rule book. Each institution jealously
guards its privileges while recognizing its
limits.
Sandinistas fire homemade mortars at a
Managua hotel where lawmakers attempted to
overturn President Ortega's unconstitutional
decree, April 20.
But populist demagogues channeling Mussolini
see respect for the rule of law as the stuff
of quitters. The elected despot can do what
he wants. Institutions that push back get
visits from thugs. That's what has happened
in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia, and why
those countries can no longer be considered
democracies.
Nicaragua now hangs in the balance—and there
is a lot at stake. Mr. Chávez wants a
permanent, reliable ally in Central America.
He hoped that would be Honduras. Now his
chips are on Nicaragua, with the goal of
making the Sandinista paradise part of the
21st-century Bolivarian utopia. Cuba, with
its long history of repression, is a
valuable partner in this effort. Its armed
forces and elite guards are already working
with the Chávez government as noted in a
press conference last week by retired
Venezuelan Gen. Antonio Rivero. Specifically
he complained of "courses in sniper training
in which Cuban professionals participate."
If Mr. Ortega gets tenure in Nicaragua you
can bet he will be eager to promote the
values of his close allies, Cuba and
Venezuela, on the isthmus in exchange for
their help in holding onto power. Iran will
also want to join the cause. An unclassified
report from the Pentagon released this month
says that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps-Qods Force "maintains operational
capabilities around the world" and "recent
years have witnessed an increased presence
in Latin America, particularly Venezuela."
Mr. Ortega re-established diplomatic
relations with Iran after his election in
2006.
But Mr. Ortega's term is up in January 2012,
and according to Article 147 of the
constitution he is barred from running for
president again. For three years he tried to
get Congress to change that. He failed. So
in October he went to Nicaragua's Supreme
Court alleging that since congressmen can be
re-elected, he's the victim of
discrimination.
The Sandinista judges on the court's
constitutional panel waited until the
opposition judges had gone home for the day,
called in three Sandinista judges from other
court panels as alternates and held a vote.
The court ruled the prohibition on
re-election "inapplicable." Mr. Ortega
promptly declared himself a candidate for
2011.
Even so, the wannabe dictator still has a
problem: He is unlikely to win a fair
election. That's why he wants to hand-pick
the electoral council, which is charged with
ensuring a level playing field and is up for
renewal in June. And that's why he is locked
in mortal combat with Congress.
Normally the president sends his nominees
for the Supreme Court and the electoral
council to Congress for a vote. But after
the "inapplicable" trick, Congress refused
to proceed. So in January Mr. Ortega issued
a decree that he was extending the terms of
two Supreme Court judges and the electoral
council.
The president has no such power, and earlier
this month the two judges should have
withdrawn from the court because their terms
expired. They refused to do so. Last week
one of them was leading the mob violence in
the street.
Get the latest information in Spanish from
The Wall Street Journal's Americas page.
Mr. Ortega's demand that Congress re-elect
the current electoral council is even more
troubling. Its record is shoddy. It never
produced a full vote tally from the 2006
presidential election that Mr. Ortega
supposedly won. Worse, the 2008 elections
for the country's mayors—who provide an
important counterbalance to the national
government—were so flawed that neither the
U.S. nor the European Union recognized the
results. The U.S. suspended Nicaragua's
participation in the foreign aid program
known as the Millennium Challenge Account
and the EU suspended aid as well.
Nicaragua's Congress is insisting on a new
slate of candidates for the electoral
council and has the votes to repeal Mr.
Ortega's decree. Now there is speculation
that Mr. Ortega is working behind the scenes
to peel off members of Congress from the
opposition.
If that fails, he will have to either rely
on further street violence against the
legislators or he will have to sit down and
make some compromises. Even if he chooses
the latter this time around, this chapter
should not be forgotten. Nicaraguans have
been forewarned about their president's
respect, or lack thereof, for the rule of
law. |
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