The Inauguration

Daniel Ortega was sworn in as Nicaragua´s president for the second time. His last stint as the Sandinista leader was from 85-90, and he is back promising changes, more jobs, free education (so many children are not attending school because it is unaffordable), etc. The inauguration was held in Managua and Johannes, Gabe (new yorker), and I arrived in the not so central plaza at 2pm where black and red Sandinista flags flew and thousands of people gathered. The energy in the crowd was contagious and the music blared songs that kept us all swaying until 7pm, when the event finally began.

Hugo Chavez (Venezuelan president) and Evo Morales (Bolivian president) pumped up the crowd: socialism or death, nationalizing corporations, and lots of fist flying, pride pumping cheers. And then the microphone was given to Ortega...he basically sucked out all the thrill and energy in the crowd. Five minutes into his speech and everyone began dwindling away...quite sad - all he needed to do was scream, ¨Viva Nicaragua!¨ and they would have loved him...oh well. The political shifts in Central and South America right now are exciting because nearly every country (excluding Paraguay, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) are now goverened by the left, and many of the presidents are making drastic changes.

My favorite part of the evening was when a version of the Chilean protest song came on: El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido (The people united will never be defeated). Johannes had printed out the lyrics that morning, and I think we might have been the only people in the crowd belting out all the words as the fireworks exploded over the plaza. (Please note that the majority of my political insights have been patiently explained to me by Johannes...to get the accurate, detailed version of these events you can go to his much less mushy blog: www.johanneswilm.org).