Matagalpa, Nicaragua – With words of warning to not interfere in Nicaragua's “democratic process,” Pre-sident Daniel Ortega last week presented new U.S. Ambassador Robert J. Callahan with his diplomatic credentials before a crowd of several thousand Sandinista supporters gathered at a government rally in the picturesque foothills of Matagalpa.

The event, backdropped by the unfamiliar site of a red-and-black Sandinista flag hanging next to a U.S. flag, served to illustrate the mixed signals of an Ortega foreign policy that is defined by a double discourse of respect and aggression, and actions of engagement and isolationism.

Somber Event: U.S. Ambassador Robert Callahan, second from the right, puts his hand on his heart for the Star Spangled Banner during his credential ceremony last week in Matagalpa. At right, polemic Vice Foreign Minister Manuel Coronel Kautz looks on, accompanied by President Daniel Ortega and First Lady Rosario Murillo.

Tim Rogers | Nica Times

Standing next to Ambassador Callahan, President Ortega demonstrated his unique diplomatic style by calling for a “respectful relationship” with the United States government, then – in almost the same breath – referring to Callahan as a “ yanqui,” prompting snickers from the crowd.

Callahan, for his part, acknowledged that the U.S. and Nicaraguan governments “will not always be in agreement on everything.” In fact, he said, “It's almost certain that we are going to disagree.”

However, the new ambassador stressed, “When this occurs, I hope that we can discuss our differences in a respectful manner and find an acceptable agreement to continue forward.”

Callahan said the ties that bind the United States and Nicaragua – “our position as neighbors in the hemisphere, our commercial and family ties and even our love for baseball” – is ultimately more important than any points of disagreement between the two nations. Ortega nodded in agreement.

Ironically, Ortega's relationship with the United States – despite his constant railings against “ yanqui imperialism” – now appears to be a bright spot for international relations as his image becomes increasingly negative in other parts of the world.

Within the past several weeks, Ortega – or those in his administration – has insulted Mexico as a country full of impoverished and hopeless children, has launched a smear campaign against Paraguay's new minister of women's affairs (after she called him a rapist), has accused the Colombian government of state terrorism, and has threatened to forsake the entire hemisphere by pulling Nicaragua out of the Organization of American States (OAS). And that's not considering the damage he's caused on the other side of the Atlantic, where Ortega and his government have offended the Spanish crown, blasted the outgoing Swedish ambassador as the “devil,” and compared the entire European donor community in Nicaragua to meddlesome “flies that land of filth.”

His personal and political antics – both past and present – have resulted in growing protest by feminists in Paraguay, Honduras and El Salvador, and scorn from leading international intellectuals, poets and authors who once sided with the Sandinistas' left-wing government in the 1980s (see separate story, pg N2).

The administration's response to criticism, as always, has been to discredit and slander all its naysayers.

Indeed, analysts note, there appears to be some discrepancy between Ortega's discourse of “peace, unity and reconciliation” and actions that threaten to distance Nicaragua from many of its traditional friends.

Jamileth Bonilla, a Liberal Party lawmaker and president of the National Assembly's Foreign Relations Commission, told The Nica Times this week that Ortega's foreign policy has been “totally contradictory and incoherent” since he took office in 2007. His presidency, she said, has caused damage to Nicaragua's international image.

Liberal legislator and ex-Foreign Minister Francisco Aguirre said the United States seems to have “adopted a cautious, accommodating posture towards Ortega,” but that the European countries, which are among Nicaragua's biggest donors since the 1980s, “are increasingly fed up with Latin America's enfant terrible.” He said exhaustion with Ortega is leading Nicaragua into a position that is “increasingly isolated from the concert of nations.”

ALBA: Helping or Hurting?

At the center of Ortega's foreign policy – and a linchpin in his apparent attempt to recreate the international protagonist role he played as a leader in the non-aligned movement of the 1980s – is the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas, or ALBA.

Though the socialist cooperation and development agreement was invented by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, and is ultimately bankrolled by that country's oil funds, Ortega has become one of ALBA's biggest international champions. But his enthusiasm for ALBA could be affecting the balancing act he once managed with other nations, some analysts warn.

“Ortega's international relations are all about ALBA,” said political analyst Carlos Tünnermann, who served as Nicaraguan ambassador to the United States during the first Sandinista government. “He thinks that the solution to all the country's problems is going to come from Chávez, which is absurd. Venezuela doesn't have the capacity.”

Tünnermann said that Venezuela's ability to help is going to be stretched even thinner now that Honduras has joined ALBA and oil prices have fallen from their historic heights earlier this year.

“It's unlikely that Chávez will be able to deliver on all the promises he's made to Nicaragua because now he's making new promises to Honduras,” he said.

Nicaraguan economist Adolfo Acevedo disagrees that Honduras' inclusion in ALBA will affect Nicaragua's position. He said the key arrangement under ALBA is providing member nations with Venezuelan oil, and Chávez still has plenty of petroleum to go around.

Ortega said oil sold to Nicaragua under ALBA has solved Nicaragua's energy crisis, which led to power-rationing blackouts during much of 2006 -2007. But even those benefits might be offset by long-term damage to the country's image, according to ex-Foreign Minister Emilio Alvarez.

“These countries are wasting time in a project that won't go anywhere,” Alvarez told The Nica Times of ALBA. “Investors don't want to invest in a country that changes directions one day to the next.”

Aguirre, president of the National Assem-bly's Budget Commission, agreed that Ortega's foreign policy objectives “could spell trouble for Nicaragua.”

“Unless Ortega changes course soon, he will prove that he not only could not govern Nicaragua in war during the 1980s, but also that he cannot manage the country in peace during the 21st century.”