Jeb Bush Attacks Sandinista Ortega,
Threatens Nicaragua in Full-Page Ad
Even Worse, the Ad in the Nicaraguan
Newspaper La Prensa Is Designed to Make It Appear to Be From George
Bush
October 30, 2001
In a full-page ad October 29
in the Nicaraguan national newspaper La Prensa, Governor Jeb Bush of
Florida harshly attacked Sandinista candidate Daniel Ortega, endorsed his
main opponent Enrique Bolaños, and made thinly veiled threats against
Nicaragua should Ortega win.
According to the latest
polls, Ortega and Bolaños are in a statistical dead heat, with the election
less than a week away.
Here are some of the choice
parts of the ad:
As I look at Latin America
today, I'm reminded of the motto which is written above the entrance to
the US National Archives: "The Past Is Prologue." The past is
without doubt the key indicator of the future...
The past and present of
Daniel Ortega clearly indicate that he neither understands nor accepts the
basic principles of freedom, democracy and the free market...
Daniel Ortega is an enemy
of everything the United States represents. Further, he is a friend of our
enemies. Ortega has a relationship of more than 30 years with states and
individuals who shelter and condone international terrorism.
By contrast Enrique
Bolaños is a man whose past promises a future of freedom...
Latin America needs leaders
like Enrique Bolaños, people whose history shows a commitment to the
construction of prosperous economies and solid democracies which are the
necessary base for reinforcing bonds of brotherhood with Florida, just as
with the whole United States of America. [more of the text]
The layout of the ad is as
devious as the words. Small blue letters above the headline read
"The Brother of the President of the United States." The
massive headline, in blaring read, is "GEORGE W. BUSH SUPPORTS ENRIQUE
BOLAÑOS." All of this appears on a white background, and the
whole page is bordered in red, white and blue. The effect is to give
the impression that the ad is an endorsement of Ortega's opponent by George
Bush himself.
Of course, even if seen as
coming from the President's brother, that the warning is really from the
U.S. government would by now be quite clear to Nicaraguan voters, given the repeated
instances of U.S. interference in the Nicaraguan presidential election
process. Such an ad, coming from a country which organized, financed
and directed a terrorist contra army against Nicaragua in the late 1980's,
is designed to -- and may well indeed -- instill fear in Nicaraguan voters
that if they elect Ortega, the United States will again attack Nicaragua, or
at least make things very difficult for it.
How outrageous!
Remember when the Washington establishment went ballistic because the
Chinese government made political contributions in our presidential
election? What would have happened had the brother of the Chinese
president taken out a full page ad in The New York Times and stated
that one candidate is an enemy of everything China represents, and then made
not-so-subtle threats of dire consequences should that candidate be elected!
That the Bush administration
would place this anti-Ortega, threatening ad shows the incredibly
paternalistic -- indeed, downright racist -- attitude it has toward Latin
America. To the Bush administration, the countries "down
there" are still seen as a bunch of banana republics "in our
backyard" that need to be kept totally under U.S. control.
[Click here for information on how to
protest this outrage] |
