MANAGUA, Nicaragua – The opposition Patriotic Alliance, which was formed last year to oppose the reelection plans of President Daniel Ortega, was launched today at the local level at a rally with the participation of some 800 persons in Masaya, located 30 kilometers southeast of Managua.
Enrique Saenz, a legislator and the president of the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), said today that the Alliance is being formed not only to defend the constitution and democracy, but also as an option for exercising political power.
He said that the Alliance is an organization of political parties, social organizations and trade groups, as well as people representing all sectors of Nicaraguan society.
Saenz said that a governing council for the Patriotic Alliance has been formed, whose members will be announced in the coming days.
The Patriotic Alliance was launched on March 19 in Managua to prevent, by democratic means, President Ortega “leading the country to disaster”, according to a proclamation issued by the Alliance on the day of its creation.
Initially, the Alliance was composed of the Democratic Citizen’s Union (UDC), which includes 15 civil society organizations, the Independent Liberal Party (PLI), a faction of the Nicaraguan resistance Party (PRN), the MRS and the November 9 Movement, which was formed to denounce alleged electoral fraud during the nationwide municipal elections held in November, 2008.
According to Saenz, during the launching of the Alliance in Masaya, local representatives of other parties such as Alternative for Change (AC), the Vamos con Eduardo Movement led by opposition legislator Eduardo Montealegre, the Conservative Party and the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance also participated.
According to a political source, the next local Patriotic Alliance rallies will be held in León, in the northwestern part of the country, and Chontales, in the center of the country. The dates for the activities have not been set.
