KEY POINTS:
Daniel Ortega, the former Sandinista revolutionary who held power in Nicaragua through the 1980s and became a Cold War foe of the United States, completed his political comeback yesterday as he was sworn in as his country's new President after winning elections in November.
Among world leaders at the inauguration in the capital, Managua, was Hugo Chavez, who was himself sworn in as President of Venezuela after his decisive electoral win there last month.
The Ortega ceremony was an uncomfortable reminder to the United States of the recent return of leftist leaders to several Latin nations south of its borders, many of whom are likely to prove important allies to Chavez, who has nurtured his popularity in part through anti-American rhetoric.
Also in Managua was Evo Morales, the President of Bolivia, who has aligned himself with Chavez and the regime of Cuba's ailing Fidel Castro.
Chavez used his swearing-in to declare that he was committing his "entire life to the construction of Venezuelan socialism".
He has pledged to use Venezuela's oil resources to help Ortega fulfil his campaign promises to ease poverty in Nicaragua, ranked the second poorest country in South America with 80 per cent of its population living on about $2.80 a day.
Ortega's Sandinista revolution seized power in 1979 and he ruled Nicaragua until losing elections in 1990. He presided over a gradually crumbling economy and fought a civil war against Contra rebels.
Hoping to see Ortega toppled, the Ronald Reagan White House funnelled cash to the Contras raised by the clandestine sale of arms to Iran - an illegal scheme that caused a domestic scandal in Washington.
Reagan's successor, George Bush sr, snidely described Mr Ortega as "this little man" as well as an "unwanted animal at a garden party".
Both sides seem to be at pains now, however, to put the past behind them.
However, another member of the chorus of anti-George W. Bush leaders around the world - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran - was originally expected at the Ortega inauguration. Officials confirmed that although he would not be present he was expected to arrive in Managua at the weekend as the first world leader to pay Ortega an official visit since taking power.
Return to power
Former Marxist revolutionary Daniel Ortega formally returned to power as President yesterday after almost 17 years in opposition.
Ortega studied law in Managua but left to head the Sandinista student movement and edit a Sandinista newspaper.
In 1967, he was jailed for seven years for robbing a bank to pay for weapons. He was released in a hostage exchange and travelled to Cuba for guerrilla training before leading the Sandinista revolution in 1979.
- INDEPENDENT
