Visiting Fellow Roger F. Noriega

Ordinarily, whoever is elected mayor of Managua, Nicaragua, would not matter much in the grand--or even moderately important--scheme of things. However, it matters now, because if the Nicaraguan people stand up to the shameless attempt by Sandinista dictator Daniel Ortega to steal last Sunday's municipal elections, they will begin to turn back the tide of authoritarian populism that threatens the future of Latin America.

Ortega, who was elected president in 2006 with about 38 percent of the vote, has earned widespread international rebukes in recent months for disqualifying opposition political parties, harassing pro-democracy activists and manipulating the country's unscrupulous electoral authorities leading up to the balloting to choose mayors and councilmen in Nicaragua's 153 cities and towns.

The biggest stakes are in Managua's mayoral race between a decent democrat and Liberal Party candidate Eduardo Montealegre and Sandinista (and retired world boxing champion) Alexis Argüello. Montealegre was Ortega's opponent two years ago and, as mayor of the nation's capital, he could loosen the Sandinistas' iron grip on Nicaraguan politics.

Dubious Election Returns

The Supreme Electoral Council is standing by a partial count from about 40 percent of the polling places that gives the Sandinistas a six-point advantage in the Managua contest. However, Montealegre has shown international observers and journalists official copies of tally sheets from 93 percent of Managua's 2,107 polling places that reflect a decisive opposition victory in the capital city.

The Catholic Church has reviewed the opposition's evidence and produced a strong statement warning of a "defrauding of the popular will." A Nicaraguan electoral watchdog, Etica y Transparencia, has criticized a process marred by the "least transparency and most intimidation" in more than a decade. The independent group's 30,000 observers reported "irregularities" at a third of the Nicaragua's 12,000 polling sites. Private-sector leaders have insisted on a nationwide recount of the ballots.

The opposition argues that the Council's dubious returns and machinations are intended to create an environment in which the Sandinistas can bully electoral monitors and opposition activists into accepting their victory. The Liberal leadership recently rejected the electoral council's puny offer of a partial, unsupervised recount. Although "Ortegista" thugs have hit the streets to cow their opponents, Nicaraguan democrats have answered the call to defend their vote. Violence might escalate if electoral authorities do not satisfy the simple demand for transparency.

What is at stake in that tiny, troubled country is whether the people's will can prevail against the authoritarian machinations of Daniel Ortega, an acolyte and beneficiary of Venezuela's polarizing imperialist, Hugo Chávez. The same tug-of-war is under way in Bolivia, Ecuador and El Salvador--where Chávez's well-financed puppets are systematically attacking the democratic institutions that stave off violence and mayhem in these fragile, divided societies.

Resist Chavez's Puppets

The U.S. government should not be reticent about rejecting the naked power grab in Nicaragua, just as it must stand by friendly democrats who are resisting Chávez's puppets in upcoming congressional and presidential elections in El Salvador. The region's democrats have begun to read Washington's studied silence about all this as deliberate indifference. The OAS--which failed to observe the Nicaraguan elections and has witnessed silently the construction of a dictatorship in Venezuela--must be pressed to respond to the challenge to democratic institutions in Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador -- where authoritarian populists are offering the poor bread in exchange for their political freedom.

Managua could prove to be Chavez's high-water mark--but that will only happen if Nicaraguan democrats stand up for their rights and if the rest of the world's democrats can summon the courage to stand with them.

Roger F. Noriega is a visiting fellow at AEI. His law and advocacy firm, Tew Cardenas, LLP, represents U.S. and foreign governments and companies.