ôrtāˈgä sävāthˈrä, 1945–, president of Nicaragua (1979–90). As a university student, he joined (1963) the clandestine Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN; see Sandino, Augusto César), a Marxist guerrilla coalition that opposed the Somoza dictatorship. In 1967, he was arrested and spent seven years in prison. Head of the Sandinista junta that took power following the 1979 revolution, he was elected president in 1984. As president, he attempted to consolidate the revolution along Marxist lines but was opposed by the United States and U.S.-backed guerrillas, the contras. He was unexpectedly defeated for reelection (1990) by Violetta Barrios de Chamorro, who led a coalition of opposition parties. Ortega has since twice lost in presidential elections, in 1996 to Arnoldo Alemán Lacayo and in 2001 to Enrique Bolaños.

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