By IPS Correspondents
MANAGUA, May 25 1998 (IPS)

Former president of Nicaragua and head of the opposition Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), Daniel Ortega (1984-1990), will be in court facing rape charges filed by his step-daughter Zoilamerica Narvaez Murillo this week.

Narvaez’s detailed testimony, presented to human rights entities and published in the magazine ‘Confidencial’ Sunday, states Ortega started to abuse his step-daughter in San Jose, Costa Rica, when she was only 10 years old.

At the time, Narvaez lived with her mother Rosario Murillo and her brother Rafael, in a safe-house belonging to the then guerrilla Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), and she met Ortega there.

According to her statement, from this time until 1982, Ortega allegedly harassed and fondled Narvaez, masturbated in front of her, watched her bathing and, finally, raped her.

This 40-page document was presented to human rights bodies and the Network of Women against Sexual Violence in order to start parallel civil and penal cases against Ortega, according to the young woman’s representatives.

And the lawsuit threatens to further blacken the already negative public image of Ortega. A CID-Gallup survey in April showed 36 percent of Nicaraguans have a favourable view of Ortega, and 41 percent unfavourable.

The pollsters attribute this negative balance to the political cost of Narvaez’s accusations.

Ortega was reelected secretary general of the FSLN for the next four years Saturday with 420 votes, 95 percent of the total party representation in the Extraordinary Congress.

“I am satisfied with the results. A united formula has emerged. Clear signs have been given of the opening of the FSLN, to incorporate entrepreneurs and representatives of social sectors,” said the Sandinista leader.

Ortega joined an armed cell of the FSLN at the age of 14. He was soon taken prisoner by the Somoza family dictatorship and tortured on repeated occasions.

The former president of Nicaragua spent seven years in prison, and when he was freed by a Sandinista commando group, in December 1974, he swiftly became leader of one of the internal factions of the FSLN.

Following the defeat of the dictator Anastasio Somoza, in July 1979, Ortega took over as co-ordinator of the National Reconstruction Council, being elected president of Nicaragua in the 1984 elections.

He then lost the 1990 elections to Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, widow of the murdered director of the Nicaraguan daily ‘La Prensa,’ Pedro Joaquin Chamorro.

In 1996, the Sandinista leader again stood for the presidency, but lost in the first round to Arnoldo Aleman, his main political opponent.

“A directorship was hand chosen by the leader. Everyone there was elected as a result of his patronage. None of them will oppose the line or speed taken by the FSLN in the next four years,” said Henry Petrie, the former party leader.

According to Petrie, the internal crisis of Sandinism became more serious due to the lack of room for internal disagreement, not even for opposition to the personality cult.

The members of congress declared the “socialist” nature of the FSLN, even though various internal groups, above all the Sandinista entrepreneurs, consider this “incorrect” and “counterproductive” in view of the up coming municipal elections.

A survey in December showed barely three of every 10 Nicaraguans consider themselves “left-wing,” and a similar sized group class themselves as “rightist.” Meanwhile, 40 percent identify with the centre.

The members of Congress also proclaimed the anti-imperialist nature of the FSLN, stressing that the private sector is the force behind the national economy.

Ortega stated the FSLN priority will be to fight for the stability of the country.

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