The Nicaraguan Supreme Court has just nullified the law, and allowed Daniel Ortega to run for re-election...the next step to making Daniel the Chavez of Central America...thank your President for backing the wrong horse(s) in Central America and across the world.
This is a direct result of the Chavez backed coup in Honduras endorsed and supported.
Much thanks to Bruce, Department of Philosophy and Theology Ave Maria University--Latin American Campus San Marcos, Nicaragua, for sending this in.
Nicaragua court backs re-election BBC
The Nicaraguan Supreme Court has lifted a constitutional ban on re-election, clearing the way for President Daniel Ortega to run again in 2011 elections.
The court's decision followed an appeal by Mr Ortega and a group of mayors.
In July, Mr Ortega said publically he favoured allowing people the right to seek consecutive terms.
The issue of presidential term limits is controversial across Latin America, where several nations have moved to allow consecutive terms in office.
: Re-election issue divides Nicaragua
"This is a dictatorship," says Ernesto Cardenal. He was the priest whom Pope John Paul II publicly rebuked for being a minister in the 1980s Sandinista government.
Father Cardenal will not say any more, as he says he faces the threat of imprisonment. But the vice-president during the first Sandinista government from 1979-1989, Sergio Ramirez, is ready to voice further criticism.
"Ortega and his followers don't believe in democracy. They see it as something that is not necessary. What they want is to stay in power at all costs, even that of destroying democracy," he said.
Bruce in Nicaragua warns us:
1) This clears the way for Ortega to become president-for-life...it is a decisive move in the direction of dictatorship.
2) It has definitely been encouraged by Obama's pro-Zelaya policy in Honduras.
3) This is a decisive challenge to the Administration's foreign policy...and a full-court denunciation of the move by the State Department is an absolute imperative. And it puts the question to the Administration: do they support democracy or don't they? So far, they've sided with dictators on every major issue of their young administration: Iran, Honduras, you name it. Well, now there are no excuses: this is a clear and plain bid for dictatorship. What are they going to do? Will they support freedom or will they support a dictator in the making?
I won't drag out this letter, but those of us in Nicaragua who support democracy desperately need the support of every voice we can get.
