Nicaragua’s ex-Marxist leader Daniel Ortega has won the country’s Presidential election. With votes tallied from more than 90 percent of polling stations, Ortega polled support of 38 percent. His nearest rival, Washington-backed Eduardo Montealegre, trailed in 9 percentage points behind.

Shortly after his victory was announced, Ortega said his primary aim was to “encourage investment and different economic and social groups to work together to combat poverty.”

Nicaragua is second only to Haiti as the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. Ortega has now dropped his Cold-War era Marxism and now speaks mainly of religion, peace and reconciliation. However, his victory will be a huge boost for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is trying to build a latin american alliance of anti-US leaders.

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