After Long Hiatus, Ortega Returns to Office in Nicaragua

President Is Praised By Leftist Allies, but Pledges Moderation

President-elect Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), left, and Nicaragua's President Enrique Bolanos, shake hands at the Presidential House in Managua, Nicaragua on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006. (AP Photo/Cristobal Herrera) (Cristobal Herrera - AP)

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, Jan. 10 -- Former revolutionary Daniel Ortega was sworn in as Nicaragua's president Wednesday, promising to maintain relations with the United States while joining a growing coalition of leftist leaders who have taken power across Latin America.

Wearing his signature white button-down shirt, cuffs rolled up to his elbows, Ortega took the oath of office at a plaza he constructed while president in the 1980s, the same site where he conceded defeat after 1990 elections, following a decade of war against U.S.-backed guerrillas in which an estimated 50,000 people were killed.

Following his 1990 loss, he ran for president three consecutive times, finally winning in November.

Ortega, 61, has promised to adopt moderate social and economic policies at home while cultivating alliances with such U.S. adversaries as Venezuelan President Hugo Ch?vez and the communist government in Cuba.

Ortega led the 1979 Sandinista revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza and served as president for the next 11 years. He built alliances with the Soviet Union and Cuba and became one of the most bitter foes of the United States.

Ch?vez arrived just hours after he was sworn in to another six-year term in Caracas, where he echoed his mentor and ally, Fidel Castro of Cuba, in saying that the choice for Venezuela was clear: "Fatherland, socialism or death."

Ch?vez has promised Nicaragua 32 desperately needed electricity plants, low-interest loans to the poor from a branch of his state development bank and help in improving Nicaragua's health and education systems.

Another guest was Bolivian President Evo Morales, a close ally of Ch?vez and Castro. 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.

Castro, who underwent intestinal surgery in July, did not attend, but in a letter he sent his "utmost support" for Ortega.

Late Tuesday, Ortega met in private with Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, who headed the U.S. inaugural delegation. Ortega said he hoped the visit was the "first of several" and described a phone call he had with President Bush on Monday as a "very pleasant and positive conversation."

Today, thousands of retirees from the United States call Nicaragua home, and Nicaragua is poised to benefit from the newly implemented Central America Free Trade Agreement. Ortega has promised to respect that pact, along with private businesses.

Business leaders are optimistic he will keep his word. There are few signs of investor flight.

Jay Walsh, 53, a resident of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who owns Snooky's bar in Managua with two other Americans, said Ortega has changed.

"I think he's mellowed as far as his anger toward the United States," Walsh said. "But I don't think he's totally forgiven the U.S. government."