NICARAGUA: ORTEGA'S REACTION TO CLINTON/LEWINSKY SCANDAL

Описание: (22 Sep 1998) Spanish/Nat

Nicaraguan Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega has voiced support for U-S President Bill Clinton as the Monica Lewinsky scandal intensifies.

He criticised what he called the double standards of U-S politicians, who denounced a president for having extra-marital affairs but also backed recent air strikes on Sudan.

Ortega himself is in the grip of a sex scandal, publicly accused by his stepdaughter of abusing her since the age of eleven.

The former President of Nicaragua and Secretary-General of the opposition Sandinista Party, Daniel Ortega, has accused some in the U-S of hypocrisy over the Clinton-Lewinsky sex scandal.

He criticised politicians in the U-S for their failure to condemn what he called 'international terrorism' and their apparent zeal in persecuting the president for alleged sexual indiscretions.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"We are seeing the typical double standards of the United States. They make such a lot of scandal, of sinning of something that's so normal. They are trying to judge and re- judge President Clinton, yet on the other hand, they maintain absolute silence over the sins the U-S have committed -it's another morality. More than that, they applaud terrorist actions, terminal actions like they committed recently against Sudan when they bombed that medical factory. It's a total unjustified action of reprisal. They have become accomplices to politics against Cuba which they still maintain - that's a sin. A very big sin against the Cuban people. As well as that, what other things do they maintain against other people in the world? The embargoes, all of the embargoes.
Even the action against Nicaragua in the 80's."
SUPER CAPTION: Daniel Ortega, leader of the Sandinista Party

Given Ortega's own impending trial, it is perhaps not surprising his sympathies lie with President Clinton.

He was accused of sexual abuse by his step daughter, Zoilamerica Narzaez Murillo, last March.

She has vowed to continue fighting the case for as long as it takes.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"Every thing I do - it's like it's not important, like it doesn't matter. I'm still fighting to feel that I can conquer the fears, the new fears I feel all the time - and fighting to overcome this situation with courage. I feel it will help me to believe in my self - and this will allow me rebuild my life."
SUPER CAPTION: Zoilamerica Narvaez Murillo, step-daughter of Daniel Ortega

In a parallel development to the Clinton scandal, local newspapers and radio stations talked of little else.

Ortega has denied the claims of sexual abuse and his wife Rosario Murillo supports him too.

She has also claimed the charges were false.

Ortega set out to defend his honour in a speech in front of cheering supporters last year at the 19th anniversary of a guerrilla action known as the 'Sandinista Tactical Retreat.'

His step daughter asked the National Assembly to strip Ortega of his parliamentary immunity so he can face trail.

The scandal facing Ortega last year came two months before Ortega's bid for re-election as the Sandinista presidential candidate.

In the same way, Clinton faces his scandal as mid term elections loom.

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