Our new neighbors

Daniel Ortega, newly-elected President of Nicaragua, signed a socialist trade pact yesterday with Venezuela, Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba according to an AP story. Our good buddy Hugo Chavez was on hand to pass out goodies to the Nicaraguans in attendence including a few tractors to some farmers in front of an electrical plant shipped from Venezuela the day Ortega won his election.

“Think of what Nicaragua would be like today if the North American imperialists had allowed Daniel to continue his revolution!” [Chavez] said.

He promised a slew of aid and investment, including 100,000 barrels of oil under preferential terms and the construction of an oil refinery and factories for Venezuelan products. Later, Ortega and Chavez signed agreements giving Nicaragua $20 million in loans with little or no interest for the country’s rural poor as well as help improving health care and education.

All the while Chavez railed against US policy in the region, policy Chavez has claimed ruined Central American economies. But, not as much as communist guerillas in the region have ruined economies, I’ll wager.

Category: Foreign Policy, Hugo Chavez