Nicaragua's Sandinistas have charted a course into the next century, deciding to keep as their pilot a revolutionary hero who stands accused of sexually abusing his step-daughter for almost two decades. 
     On May 23, former President Daniel Ortega was re-elected general secretary of the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN) at the end of a two-day party congress in Managua. Ortega has ruled the FSLN since it overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979. Since losing power in a 1990 election, Ortega has shepherded the party through a failed presidential campaign and two losses in Caribbean coast regional elections. 
     Ortega faces many critics within his own party. On May 18, Vilma Núñez-a human rights activist who unsuccessfully challenged Ortega for the party's 1996 presidential nomination-wrote congress delegates that she wouldn't attend the meeting. The FSLN "is less and less democratic, less and less revolutionary," she wrote. "I don't believe, sincerely, that there will be any opportunity in this Congress for an open, creative and critical debate about the worrisome national reality nor about the serious crisis of identity and leadership within the FSLN, which I see lost in a labyrinth of personal interests." 
     In advance of the congress, speculation ran high about whether party reformers would prevail in an attempt to take power away from old-line "conservatives" like Ortega. 
     Reformers did manage to win a secret vote for party leadership positions, something Ortega opposed. Yet motions to increase the quota of leadership positions reserved for women and youth failed. And a motion to reveal party finances was never even voted on. 
     Reformers didn't even try to challenge Ortega for the party's top post, but Victor Hugo Tinoco, a 45-year old soft-spoken former diplomat and leader of the party's contingent in the Asamblea Nacional, did challenge party patriarch Tomas Borge, 68, for the number two spot. Borge was furious, and lobbied shamelessly to keep the vice secretary general's job. Although Borge won that vote 224-199, Tinoco got more votes that Borge when congress members cast ballots for the 15-member Dirrecion Nacional (DN), the organization's executive committee. 
     The new makeup of the DN represents a rough tie between Ortega supporters and party reformers. Yet some insiders claim the DN seldom meets, and that Ortega makes all the day to day decisions. 
     Sociologist Orlando Núñez, a prominent party dissident, says the political identity of the party goes beyond who makes up the DN. "It doesn't matter who is in the DN . . .the problem, which the Sandinista leadership presents as a necessity, is the conversion of the Sandinista Front into a business," Núñez said. "I'm ashamed for the comrades that lead the Front, because they end up converting themselves in a committee that administers the businesses of the Sandinista bourgeoisie." 
     Reformers claim party leaders, concerned with administering economic enterprises they inherited from their decade of ruile in the 1980s, have lost touch with the grassroots. They point to a three-month strike by the country's physicians as an example of a social struggle in which the FSLN should be active. 
     Rather than respond to current criticism, Ortega preferred to reminisce during the party congress about the battles of the decade past, even leading delegates in singing the chorus of the party's hymn that decries the "Yanqui, enemy of humanity," a refrain many believed had been cut from the FSLN anthem. 
     When the congress concluded, Ortega took to the capital's marginal barrios to drum up opposition to the government's economic policies. Yet wherever he went, he couldn't escape questions from journalists about his relationship to Zoilamérica Narváez, who shocked the country in March when she claimed Ortega had sexually molested her for years. 
     Ortega has denied the charges, as has his wife Rosario Murillo. And Narváez' brother Rafael has likewise denied the charges, even claiming his sister is controlled by a local cult led by a longtime political opponent of Ortega. 
     On May 27, Narváez, 30, presented a 40-page statement detailing Ortega's alleged abuse. The statement described how the abuse began when Narváez was 11. She said the former president raped her when she was 15. Narváez described how Ortega allegedly abused her throughout the family home, and even invited other men to have sex with her while he directed the scene. 
     "He is guilty of the destruction of my adolescence and youth," Narváez said in her statement. "The damages in my body and mind have had irreparable consequences." 
     Frustrated by Ortega's repeated denials, Narváez took her charges to a Managua courtroom on May 29, but Judge Martha Quezada rejected the claim as it wasn't typed on the correct type of paper. 
     Even if Narváez presents the correct legal forms, Ortega is immune from prosecution because he's a member of the Asamblea Nacional. So following her court appearance, Narváez went to the Asamblea to ask that Ortega be stripped of his immunity. 
     Such an action appears unlikely. In a country where one in four children is sexually abused, many are reluctant to investigate charges like those made by Narváez. And many of the 83 male deputies in the 93-member Asamblea are afraid that if Ortega can be drug into court, they too could be held responsible for domestic abuse or failure to pay child support. 
     Although Sandinista deputies alone have the votes to maintain Ortega's immunity, Liberals are also unlikely to support Narváez. "There's a secret pact between Liberals and Sandinistas, and that symbiosis protects everyone," observes lawyer Juan Almendarez Castillo. "There's an order from the executive branch ordering functionaries to keep quiet about the attempt to remove immunity from Daniel Ortega." 
     Liberals are practicing a live and let live philosophy, given that their leader, President Arnoldo Aleman, has more than his share of problems these days. 
      Most notable among Aleman's problems is the "narco-jet" scandal, which came to light in April when police revealed that Aleman and other top government officials had ridden several times in a Lear Jet 35-A that was stolen in Miami during December by a Cuban-American drug trafficker. An investigation revealed traces of cocaine on board. One of the investigators, a Salvadoran police specialist, was subsequently murdered. Aleman claims innocence, and has fired several government officials who allegedly forged documents to legalize the plane in Nicaragua. 
     In the wake of the FSLN Congress, Aleman and Ortega met together to in a heralded dialogue where they discussed national problems. With both facing serious questions about their credibility and leadership, the two political enemies discovered new-found solace in each other's company.