Daniel Ortega
Daniel Ortega
José Daniel Ortega Saavedrais a Nicaraguan politician who has been President of Nicaragua since 2007; previously he was leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as Coordinator of the Junta of National Reconstructionand then as President. A leader in the socialist Sandinista National Liberation Front, his policies in government have seen the implementation of leftist reforms across Nicaragua...
NationalityNicaraguan
ProfessionWorld Leader
Date of Birth11 November 1945
CityLa Libertad, Nicaragua
CountryNicaragua
What we asked for were weapons so that we could defend ourselves -- that's what we asked of the Soviet Union, of the socialist countries of Eastern Europe, of the Algerians, of the Vietnamese; and that's what we received so that we could arm the Nicaraguan people and defend ourselves in that war imposed on us by Ronald Reagan's Administration over a number of years.
The fact is that the United States is behind what has happened in Nicaragua, and what they did was to promote a confrontation between Nicaraguans.
The people of Nicaragua were suffering oppression. This made us develop an awareness which eventually led us to commit ourselves to the struggle against the domination of the capitalists of our country in collusion with the U.S. government, i.e. imperialism.
We grew up in a situation where we didn't know what freedom or justice were, and therefore we didn't know what democracy was.