Nicaragua
Editorial
President Daniel Ortega knows “how to run his mouth,” said the Managua Prensa in an editorial. It’s less clear that he knows how to run the country. During the eight months that the former Sandinista leader has been in office, the poor have gotten poorer. Those who have jobs are the lucky ones: Ortega fired thousands of government workers “simply because they were not his followers.” Half of Nicaraguans are living on less than $1 a day, yet prices keep going up. Gas and food are more expensive than when Ortega took office, and blackouts now last up to six hours a day. Nicaraguans are growing panicky. Many have emptied their bank accounts of cordobas and are buying dollars, “desperate to get hold of some hard currency before the economy collapses.” All Ortega can do, it seems, is offer us leftist slogans. He curries favor with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an authoritarian if there ever was one, by denouncing President Bush as a “tyrant” and “warmonger.” Worse, he’s now starting to suck up to Iran, a truly dangerous country that exports terrorism. Nicaraguans can see through Ortega’s strategy. Anti-imperialist rhetoric won’t make us forget that “we are cinching our belts ever tighter.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
August 16 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include football season anticipation, and Donald Trump angling for Putin's autograph
-
5 hilariously cold cartoons about the Alaska summitCartoons Artists take on the Alaskan totem pole, a peace flag, and more
-
Sudoku medium: August 16, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
