Managua – The Sandinistas and the Liberal Party of late Nicaraguan former dictator Anastasio Somoza, bitter historical rivals who stained Nicaragua with blood in a vicious civil war, on the weekend concluded an unprecedented electoral alliance with an eye toward winning the Nov. 5 vote.
Sandinistas and Somocistas – who faced off in the civil war that left more than 75,000 dead in the late 1970s and early 1980s – came to their agreement at a Managua hotel at the commencement of the Sandinista National Liberation Front’s electoral campaign.
The alliance was sealed with an embrace between the Sandinista presidential candidate, former President Daniel Ortega, who governed from 1985-90, and Nationalist Liberal Party chief Constantino Velasquez.
“The PLN and the FSLN were antagonistic parties, but deep and sincere reflection by the party has (resulted in recognizing) the need for asking forgiveness and for the reconciliation of the Nicaraguan family,” said Velasquez upon announcing the pact, using the Spanish-language acronyms of the Liberals and the Sandinistas, respectively.
He said that the PLN had joined with the Sandinistas because he was sure that the “Sandinista Front is the only … true option for taking Nicaragua forward,” adding that the two political groupings could not “continue with the politics of hate and terror” and emphasizing that there do exist areas of agreement between their two mostly divergent government platforms.
The PLN was formerly the ally of the Constitutionalist Liberal Party, or PLC, headed by former President Arnoldo Aleman (1997-2002), who is serving a 20-year sentence for corruption, but Aleman’s supporters downplayed the accord between their old allies and the FSLN, saying that the rapprochement was not representative of their own stance.
“The Somoza family always has identified with the Constitutionalist Liberals,” said Leonel Teller, the spokesman for PLN presidential candidate Jose Rizo.
He added that the descendents of Somoza were supporting Rizo and that Velasquez moved closer to the FSLN to receive “benefits” not offered to him by the PLC.
