Ortega's last straw in Nicaragua

A bitter political-cultural confrontation that exploded in Nicaragua in late August could mark the final end of the passionate romance between the world's leftist intellectuals and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, writes Stephen Kinzer in this Opinion piece.

Ortega, you may recall, was the leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front when it seized power after overthrowing the 40-year Somoza family dynasty. A dashing young revolutionary who electrified liberals and leftists around the world, Ortega served as Nicaragua's president for most of the 1980s. He lost power in 1990, but after 16 years in opposition, he was elected president again in 2006.

For years -- in and out of government -- the Sandinista Front has been Ortega's private fiefdom. Most of the other Sandinistas who riveted the world's attention in the 1980s have broken with him, but he emerged with control over the party machinery, and he wields power like an old-fashioned Latin American caudillo.

Despite Ortega's recent slide into authoritarian rule, and despite his glaring failure to address the urgent needs of an impoverished nation, the Sandinista cachet continues to give him an air of celebrity in some circles. His denunciations of American imperialism (issued even as he deals easily with the U.S. military and the International Monetary Fund) still warm the cockles of many hearts.

That has changed in recent days. On Aug. 22, in a crude act of political revenge, a Sandinista judge dredged up an old case that had been dismissed three years ago against Ernesto Cardenal, the 83-year-old poet who is one of Nicaragua's most beloved figures. Intellectuals from around the world, including many with pro-Sandinista pedigree, have angrily protested what they see as a transparent effort by Ortega and the Sandinistas to humiliate and punish Cardenal.

Read the rest of this Opinion piece on Nicaragua here.

Stephen Kinzer's latest book is "A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It." His 1991 book, "Blood of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua," recounts his experience as the New York Times' bureau chief in Managua.

Here's an L.A. Times profile of Cardenal from 2005.

Click here for more on Nicaragua.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Los Angeles needs to go global to fight gangs, says Rocky Delgadillo

Rocky Delgadillo, the Los Angeles city attorney, oversees the enforcement of 57 gang injunctions, including ones against the MS-13 and 18th Street gangs. In Opinion today, he talks about how combating Los Angeles gangs is not a local challenge, but an international one.

"The two fastest-growing and most powerful gangs in the world are homegrown products of Los Angeles. The Mara Salvatrucha gang, or MS-13, and the 18th Street gang, known in Central America as Mara 18, sprang up in Pico-Union and the densely populated neighborhoods around MacArthur Park. But unlike many local street gangs, these two were entrepreneurial: They recruited Central American immigrants across the city and then expanded farther -- throughout Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Conservative estimates put MS-13's ranks at 20,000 and 18th Street's at 30,000 worldwide.

"Stopping street gangs is no longer a local matter -- a point driven home to me during a symposium in El Salvador. During the conference, two points of consensus emerged. First, MS-13 and 18th Street have become an international concern -- indeed, even Interpol is now involved in the fight. Second, past strategies to handle these gangs have failed."

Read the full Opinion piece here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Nicaraguan songwriter tells government to change its tune

"A famous Nicaraguan revolutionary singer-songwriter has asked the government to stop using his music," the Associated Press is reporting:

Carlos Mejia Godoy, who penned the hymn of the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front, said in a letter published Saturday that President Daniel Ortega and his staff are not authorized to use his songs at government events.

He did not dispute the use of the party hymn he wrote, but he gave government-supported television and radio outlets a week to stop using a version that he recorded.

Mejia Godoy is among several Sandinistas who formed a new party after breaking with Ortega, who served as Sandinista leader in the 1980s and fought U.S.-backed Contra rebels. Mejia Godoy ran unsuccessfully for vice president in 2006, when Ortega won the presidency.

In the letter published in two Nicaraguan newspapers, Mejia Godoy says he will file a lawsuit if the government continues to use his music without permission.

The government did not publicly respond to the letter or messages seeking comment.

Photo credit: German Miranda

-- Reed Johnson in Mexico City

Sandinista leader on hunger strike against former Nicaraguan comrades

"A veteran guerrilla leader who helped spark a revolution here 30 years ago is again putting her life on the line to protest a government she claims is returning Nicaragua to its dark, dictatorial past," writes Tim Rogers in the Miami Herald.

"Dora María Téllez, 52, [formerly known as Comandante 2] started a hunger strike this week, plopping down in downtown Managua to 'sound the alarm bell' against what she says are President Daniel Ortega's authoritarian intentions."

"The former rebel leader and ex-minister of health under the first Sandinista government in the 1980s says her protest is a continuation of the revolutionary struggle she started three decades ago against the U.S.-backed Somoza dictatorship."

-- Reed Johnson in Mexico City

Photo: Former Nicaraguan guerrilla commander Dora Maria Tellez, founder of the Sandinista Renovation Movement, sits in a hammock near the Supreme Electoral Council in Managua to protest a government move to invalidate her political party. Credit: Miguel Alvarez / AFP Getty Images