Two Relics

The 2006 Latin American electoral whirlwind brought two disgraced 1980s pols out of mothballs: Alan García in Peru, and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua. The first, by running against a radical Chavista, basically had the mantle of responsible left-of-center governance thrust upon him, and he's done nothing to disassociate himself with it. García, perhaps chastened by his scandal-ridden exit from the stage almost two decades ago, has continued the market-friendly approach of his predecessor Alejandro Toledo, and Peru's economy is one of Latin America's best performers. Peru's debt rating has been rated investment grade by Fitch and S&P. More importantly, poverty has dropped from just below 50 percent of the population to just below 40 percent in the two years of García's of term. 

And Daniel Ortega? Not as good. Only 21 percent of the citizens of Latin America's second poorest nation approve of Ortega's performance in office. Persistent poverty (which is not his fault) and an economy increasingly reliant on Venezuela's free oil (which is) aside, Ortega has shown that his years out of power didn't instill any new appreciation for democratic principles. Witness his harassment of 83-year-old poet Ernesto Cardenal, who criticized Ortega during a recent trip to Paraguay.