Bush discusses cooperation with Nicaragua's Ortega

[Ron Burgundy]

AFP - US President George W. Bush told Nicaraguan president elect and former US foe Daniel Ortega that he hoped to work together on a range of issues, the White House said.

Bush telephoned Ortega, who assumes office this week, "to congratulate him and the Nicaraguan people on their commitment to democracy," said national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

"The president expressed his strong commitment to the well-being of the Nicaraguan people and our continued interest in a relationship with Nicaragua, noting such on-going areas of cooperation" as trade and reform-driven economic development, he said.

"The president also noted that reconciliation, unity, democracy, and job creation -- the agenda outlined in Daniel Ortega's election platform -- are areas for possible cooperation," said Johndroe.

Ortega, 61, on Wednesday is to be sworn in to a five-year term as Nicaragua's president.

Bush also spoke with outgoing Nicaraguan President "Enrique Bolanos to thank him for his service to his country, commitment to democracy, and friendship with the United States," said Johndroe.

Ortega was the Marxist leader of the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front that ousted US-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979. The Soviet-backed Sandinista government seized private assets, distributed land to poor farmers and battled US-financed Contra rebels throughout the 1980s.

He was voted out of power in 1990 the end of a bloody civil war against US-backed Contra rebels, and lost two subsequent presidential elections, before prevailing in the election earlier this month to succeed Bolanos on January 10.

During his campaign against US-backed conservative rival Eduardo Montealegre, Ortega toned down his revolutionary rhetoric. But Washington, and particularly its ambassador in Managua, urged Nicaraguans to defeat him.