MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — In Nicaragua, where Marxist dogma has given way to a free market economy, the red-and-black flags of the Sandinista revolution have been supplanted by the pink and baby blue colors favored by the country's first lady, "la companera" Rosario Murillo. The revolutionary people of centuries past and present inspire us in the advance of socialism that, for us in Nicaragua, is made up of Christian faith, family values, the life and spirit of community. Politics long have been a family affair in Nicaragua, and Latin America has a tradition of women leaders stepping in when their husbands leave the political stage. Barring illness or death, the 67-year-old Ortega is not likely to leave office soon, thanks to his backers in Congress and on the Supreme Court who approved a constitutional change allowing for unlimited re-election. In a photograph taken July 19, 1979, the day Somoza fled Nicaragua, Murillo is wearing green fatigues, a black beret over short hair, and a rifle slung over her shoulder, standing with several of the nine Sandinista commandants who led the uprising. Today, Murillo's shoulders are draped in her jet black hair and colorful outfits, many of them pink and blue, apparently for the New Age colors of divine purpose and harmony with family and the world. Besides references to God, Murillo's speeches are peppered with allusions to the mysteries and miracles of life, and Mother Earth. "Ortega holds the political power, but she wields it in his name," said Dora Maria Tellez, the Sandinista militant who led an assault on the National Palace in 1978, taking Somoza's congress hostage. Ortega ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as coordinator of the Junta of National Reconstruction and then as president, until losing an election to Violeta Chamorro, the wife of the assassinated newspaper editor for whom Murillo had worked. Murillo led the re-election campaign that returned Ortega to power in 2006 with the help of a loyal opposition, and another in 2011. The concession to build the Great Inter-Oceanic Canal of Nicaragua, a waterway three-times the size of the Panama Canal, has been granted to Beijing-based telecommunications CEO Wang Jing, along with tax-free side projects including ports on Nicaragua's Pacific and Atlantic coasts, an oil pipeline bisecting the country, a cargo railway, two free-trade zones and an international airport. [...] Ortega and Murillo have kept the rest of their large family close, and many others at a distance.
Comment on Rosario Murillo: Nicaragua's 'first comrade'
ALBERTO ARCE, Associated Press, San Antonio Express-News: World
Sun, 07/27/2014 - 9:40pm
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