¡Viva La Revolución!

So, you may or may not have heard that there's been some minor protesting going on down here. The Nicaraguan Supreme Court cleared the way for Daniel Ortega to run for re-re-election in November 2011, which is my Peace Corps group's last month in service. For those who don't know, Ortega helped lead the Sandinista Revolution in 1979, and was president immediately afterward. His first presidency was kind of a bust, what with having to fight the Contras most of the 80's and the economy collapsing and all. He was out of office for about 20 years, but was re-elected in what many viewed as a stolen election in 2006. Things have not gone well for him again since then, and a large part of the country is decidedly against him running again, calling him Dictador Ortega, and accusing him of corruption.

The U.S. Ambassador made some comments about the Supreme Court decision, saying he was worried about the possibility of Ortega becoming a permanent president, and was worried for the state of democracy in Nicaragua. This was a bad idea for two reasons. First of all, it provoked legions of Ortega supporters to converge outside the U.S. Embassy in Managua and shoot home-made mortars at it. I saw some great news footage of the Ambassador running from the embassy to a nearby university (La UCA, where we actually saw him preside over a conference for Nicaraguan English teachers at the beginning of our training), surrounded by police and news cameras and boom mics. Secondly, the remarks were counter-productive, because the fact that the U.S. Ambassador was saying them made it easy for the Ortega supporters to paint the opposition as pawns of U.S. interests, even though there are legitimate reasons to oppose Ortega's current government and continued ability to run for re-election.

So that's what's been going on down here politically. I'm totally safe, and there's no need to worry; the PC has super-detailed evacuation plans in place if things get too out of hand. It'll certainly be an interesting time to be in the country during these next two years, especially towards the end of our service. I'm happy that things at least seem to have cooled off in Honduras for the time being. It'll be nice not to be three kilometers from a militarized border when I go up on Wednesday to see my future site, and meet my future counterparts. I'll post again when I get back next week!