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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Nicaragua’s President Ortega picks wife as his running mate |
| 2016-08-04 |
| [NEWS.VICE] Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, who has so far governed the country for two decades, has chosen his controversial wife as his running mate for the country's next elections in November. Rosario Murillo is already the government's spokeswoman, and the announcement that the also avid promoter of new age spirituality is now set to become vice president brought widespread accusations that the couple is trying to perpetuate itself in power. The president, who is currently the only candidate in the election, has insisted that putting his wife on the ticket is proof of his commitment to equal rights. "There was a discussion about who should be the vice president so that we can continue the good government in this country," he told news hounds and adoring crowds on Tuesday. "It had to be a woman and who better than comrade Rosario Murillo, who has carried out her duties, working at all hours of the day with efficiency, discipline, and dedication." Ortega first governed Nicaragua after he led the Sandinista guerrillas to victory over the dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979, weathering a US-backed war against him for most of the next decade until he lost elections in 1990. The former guerrilla later staged a spectacular comeback and won two consecutive presidential elections in 2006 and 2011. But in recent years Nicaraguans have probably seen more of Murillo than of her husband, whose days as a romantic cult figure of the international left are long over. As government spokeswoman she delivers a daily round up of news typically framed with a mixture of references to spiritual harmony and the Sandinista Revolution. "This revolution in which women have participated shoulder to shoulder with men," Murillo told news hounds after she was named as vice presidential candidate. "This revolution that has opened the door to the full participation of women in all spaces, whether political, social or economic." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 No other better qualified candidate was found |
| Posted by: Frank G 2016-08-04 21:49 |
| #2 "It had to be a woman and who better than comrade |
| Posted by: Bobby 2016-08-04 08:15 |
| #1 Ah, following the Clinton model. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2016-08-04 00:58 |