Eurasia Press & News
 Nicaragua’s new left-wing president has begun building a strategic alliance with Iran, calling America a “terrorist nation.” The president, Daniel Ortega, is no stranger to Americans. Back in the 1970s and 1980s he headed the Sandinista junta that ruled Nicaragua with the support of Castro’s Cuba and the Soviet Union.
The Sandinistas have re-emerged with the election of Ortega last November, giving him control of the strategically located Nicaragua.
Though Ortega had campaigned to keep Nicaragua democratic and open to free enterprise, there are signs he is increasingly joining ranks with Hugo Chavez’s neighboring Venezuela to oppose US interests in the region.
And now he is seeking to establish ties with Iran.
Iran is set to pump nearly $500 million into Nicaragua to build a new hydroelectric project, invest in a new port and build 10,000 new houses, Ortega announced in early August after hosting an Iranian government delegation that included Iran’s deputy energy minister, Hamid Chitchian.
