AP News, January 11th, 2007
Two of Latin America's leading leftists were sworn in as presidents of Nicaragua and Venezuela on Wednesday, celebrating a growing coalition of leaders critical of Washington.
Former revolutionary Daniel Ortega, who battled a U.S.-backed Contra insurgency in the 1980s, returned to the presidency after 17 years promising a coalition with the region's other leftists. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez embraced the Nicaraguan leader as he attended the ceremony in Managua just hours after his own swearing-in for a third term.
During his inaugural speech in Caracas, Chavez pledged to accelerate his country's move toward socialism. He said his next moves include nationalizing electrical and telecommunications companies, forming a commission to oversee constitutional reforms and asking the National Assembly to allow him to enact "revolutionary laws" by presidential decree.
"Fatherland, socialism or death _ I swear it," Chavez said. He also alluded to Jesus: "I swear by Christ _ the greatest socialist in history."
Later, Ortega took the oath of office at a plaza he constructed as president in the 1980s _ the same place where he conceded electoral defeat to Violeta Chamorro in 1990 after a turbulent decade marked by food rationing and U.S.-backed rebel insurgency.
The ceremony's guests included other leftists: Bolivia's Evo Morales, Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, one of the Cuban revolution's oldest surviving leaders.
Morales welcomed Ortega's addition to the growing club of Latin leftists.
"Daniel Ortega's win gives strength and hope not only to Nicaragua but to all of Latin America," Morales said.
The highest-ranking U.S. official at the inauguration was Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, who met with Ortega on Tuesday and offered to build a regional training center for health workers.
The 61-year-old Ortega is not the same fiery revolutionary who allied with the Soviet Union and fought off a U.S.-backed Contra rebel insurgency. He has promised moderate economic and social policies and continued ties with the United States.
Chavez, a fierce and constant critic of the U.S. government, said the central aim of his new six-year term will be "to build Venezuelan socialism."
He said he believes that socialism _ not capitalism _ is the only way to guarantee well-being across society, not only in Venezuela, but throughout the world.
