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Ortega keeps the pink flag flying

As voters in Nicaragua prepare to elect a new president on Sunday, Daniel Ortega looks increasingly like the man to beat, and the prospect of his victory is ringing alarm bells among the 'Yanqui imperialists' he loved to denounce as a young left-wing firebrand.

During the 1980s, Ortega became an authentic hero of the Sandinista party, having earned his spurs during the uprising that overthrew Nicaragua's vile Somoza dictatorship.

In the subsequent civil war against US-backed Contra guerrillas, Commandante Daniel, clad in military fatigues and clutching an AK47 rifle, became a favourite of the foreign media. He once commandeered my taxi in the name of the revolution and sped off towards the fighting, promising an exclusive interview as compensation (it never materialised).

The new model Ortega has trimmed back the dashing Zapata moustache

An old-school Yankee-
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and the mop of jet-black hair that thrilled political groupies such as Bianca Jagger (though she is now disenchanted) appears to be dyed. A few Che Guevara T-shirts still show up at his rallies, but Ortega has substituted a business suit for the uniform and replaced hard-line Marxism with a touchy-feely programme focusing on God, peace and universal love.

He has also switched sides on the hugely sensitive issue of abortion in what remains a strongly Catholic nation, endorsing controversial new measures that block terminations for victims of rape and women at risk of dying in childbirth. Underlining this cynical strategic shift, the old flaming red colours of the Sandinistas have been replaced with a sickly pink.

But support from those who remember Ortega's street fighting days - and relish the chance to give Washington the finger - should see him past the winning post.

FIRST POSTED NOVEMBER 2, 2006