Reuters AlertNet Lite - FACTBOX-Five facts about Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega

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FACTBOX-Five facts about Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega

01 Nov 2006 17:12:06 GMT
Source: Reuters

Nov 1 (Reuters) - Here are five facts about Daniel Ortega, who led Nicaragua's left-wing Sandinista government in the 1980s when it fought U.S.-backed Contra rebels and is now the front-runner for Sunday's presidential election:

* Born in a rural mining and ranching town, Ortega studied law in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua but left to head the Sandinista student movement and edit a Sandinista newspaper. In 1967, he was arrested and jailed for seven years for robbing a bank to pay for weapons. He was later released in a hostage exchange and traveled to Cuba for guerrilla training.

* Along with his brother, military strategist Humberto Ortega, Daniel led the "Tercerista" group inside the Sandinista rebel army. Its strategy of pushing for a rapid insurrection and making alliances with diverse sectors ranging from church groups to some business leaders was key to toppling the Somoza family dynasty in 1979.

* Ortega married radical poet Rosario Murillo in 1978 in a clandestine ceremony conducted by a Spanish priest turned guerrilla fighter. He remarried her in 2005 to have the marriage recognized by the Catholic Church.

* Ortega and Murillo have three children together. One of Murillo's daughters by a previous relationship, Zoilamerica Narvaez, alleges Ortega sexually abused her. The charges were thrown out by a Sandinista-affiliated judge but have never fully faded away and returned again in this year's election campaign.

* After suffering a heart attack in 1994, Ortega was rumored to be receiving treatment in Cuba for chronic health problems.

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Last updated:Wed Nov 1 17:13:06 2006