Ortega's fate will colour Nicaragua's future

Nicaragua was a household name in the 1980s. Punk rock bands in the UK and peacenik troubadours in Canada dedicated music to its revolutionaries. Our foreign minister seemed smitten with them, in part to frustrate U.S. policy and in part from personal admiration. University students could find the country on a map.

But things have changed: Canadian academics, student activists, journalists, musicians and the labour movement no longer faun over Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas now. The rest of the world is no different. Nicaragua is now relegated to the tropical backwater status it previously had.

While it may seem surprising, its oblivion is rooted in the personalities that helped propel it to Cold War notoriety. Most Canadians who supported them will likely not admit, not even Joe Clark, that the Sandinistas were never democrats. It is on the democratic front that the tiny country finds itself at a historic watershed today [Sunday November 6].

There are powerful reasons for politicos t…