New President Takes Power in Nicaragua

Conservatives took power here Friday as Arnoldo Aleman became president hours after his party won its first congressional clash with the leftist Sandinistas.

Aleman’s inauguration marked the first time in nearly a century that a freely elected civilian president turned over power to another freely elected civilian in Nicaragua.

“We have come down a long and difficult road to get to this new starting point, with no return to the past,” Aleman said during an 85-minute inaugural address at Managua’s baseball stadium. On arriving, the 50-year-old lawyer circled the stadium track in a Mercedes-Benz convertible painted red--the color of his Liberal Party--to the cheers of supporters.

Seven presidents and delegates from 21 countries, including a U.S. group led by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, attended the inauguration. The Sandinista opposition did not, leaving scores of empty seats in the stadium.

Aleman said in an inauguration eve interview that his priorities will be creating jobs in a country with 60% unemployment and bringing reconciliation to a nation still deeply divided nearly seven years after the end of an eight-year, U.S.-backed civil war.

“We will not be able to eliminate unemployment,” Aleman said. “That would be a lie. But we will try to leave it in a situation competitive with the rest of Central America.”

Aleman will govern with a National Assembly headed by his own party loyalists, who were elected to assembly leadership posts in a tense session late Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court had declared unconstitutional 80 laws passed by the previous, Sandinista-dominated assembly during a marathon, lame-duck session in November. The laws were aimed mainly at creating cushy jobs for politicians who lost their posts in the October elections and at preventing Aleman from carrying out free-market reforms he promised in his campaign.

Control of the assembly and the support of the Supreme Court should give Aleman ample opportunity to carry out his promised programs of support for small businesses and farmers, analysts predicted.

“The Supreme Court, the legislature and the executive branch are all in Liberal hands,” said pro-Sandinista analyst Oscar Rene Vargas, adding that he fears that actions of the past few days “are early symptoms that threaten an authoritarian government.”

Aleman has insisted that he believes in democracy and will listen to dissenting views.

The portly former mayor of Managua succeeds Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, 67, whose 1990 election marked the end of both the civil war and 11 years of Sandinista rule. Her administration maintained a delicate balance between conservatives and the Sandinistas, who still control powerful unions and had leadership positions in the previous National Assembly.

In contrast, Aleman became known for confronting the Sandinistas at every opportunity. As president, Aleman said in the interview, he will personally visit Sandinista leader and former President Daniel Ortega to ask for his cooperation in solving the country’s problems.

However, relations got off to a rocky start Thursday as Ortega, who lost to Aleman in October, led his party’s 36-member delegation out of the first session of the new National Assembly, which has 93 members. The Sandinistas walked out because the Supreme Electoral Council struck down their proposal for a secret vote on the assembly leadership posts. With the Sandinistas gone, Aleman’s Liberals easily swept the leadership elections.

The Sandinistas threatened to use street protests to oppose Aleman’s policies. “We are going to back the struggle of the workers, of the farmers, of the poor people,” Ortega said Thursday. “If they take to the streets, we are going to accompany them in their struggles.”

In a reminder that vestiges of the civil war still remain, an unknown armed group killed six Nicaraguan soldiers during an ambush Thursday in Matagalpa province.

And late Friday, the Associated Press reported, police said they had thwarted an assassination attempt against Aleman with the arrest of two men.

Darling is The Times’ San Salvador bureau chief.