Shake hands with an old enemy

Nicaragua | Ortega’s return to power puts U.S.-Latin America relations on bumpy course | Priya Abraham

The military fatigues are gone and tongue-lashing the United States is out, but the man in jeans and the regular white shirt is definitely Daniel Ortega. And now, the Sandinista dictator will be Nicaragua's president again, 16 years after the country voted him out and civil war ended. He beat his closest rival, the center-right banker Eduardo Montealegre, and three other candidates to make his comeback.

By Sunday evening Nov. 5, with early returns showing an Ortega edge, the Sandinista's supporters were already streaming onto streets celebrating a win. They swayed to his now trademark campaign song, using the melody of John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance."

Ortega has undergone a makeover since the '80s when he battled against U.S.-backed Contra rebels. His hard-line Marxist dictatorship once seized property, abused human rights, and backed international terrorism. A softer, 61-year-old Ortega, on his fourth try for president since 1990, married his common-law wife in a Catholic Church before the election, and he now praises foreign investment and free markets.