Inauguration

Here are some pictures from the inauguration of Daniel Ortega (from the Nuevo Diario... I'll post mine later). I went with a group from the centro and am kicking myself that I didn't stay for the speeches!!! When's the next time Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales and Daniel Ortega will be in the same place at the same time giving speeches about creating a latin american bolivarian union, challenging US imperialism and building socialist republics? Chanting "el pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido" with hundreds of thousands of nicaraguans as they play the hymn of the Sandinistas, black and white FSLN flags waving, fireworks going off. We left early because we'd already been waiting for 3 hours... Hugo Chavez was late, having had his own inauguration earlier the same day, so the activity didn't start until 8PM, when it was supposed to start at 3!!

It's hard to tell what direction Daniel is going in. It seems like he's making alliances with the other leftist presidents in Latin America, but also has an interest in not pissing off the United States, for economic reasons. Chavez is promising to help out the economy, building some electric plants and providing oil at cheaper prices. But Daniel is also inviting US companies to build more maquiladoras (factories) here, which basically use people here as slaves, paying virtually nothing and treating them poorly. See this article from the Guardian for some more background-info http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6333672,00.html