Nicaragua’s Spoiled Ballot
President Daniel Ortega moves to construct another dictatorship.
THROUGH MUCH of the 1980s, the United States waged a proxy war to prevent Full Story">Daniel Ortega and his Full Story">Sandinista party from consolidating a dictatorship in Nicaragua. In 1990, Mr. Ortega finally agreed to hold a presidential election, which he lost; since then Central America’s poorest country has struggled to build a functioning democracy. Now Mr. Ortega is back and once again is seeking autocratic power. This time, however, neither the United States nor other outside powers are doing much to stop him.
