Ordinarily, I wouldn’t give Globovisión the time of day, as they’re an escualido “news” channel well known for exaggerations, falsifications, fabrications and outright lies. (Venezuelans often refer to the channel as Globomojón, for reasons good — it played a big role in numerous coup attempts there.) But yesterday a rumor was making the rounds of the Internets that Daniel Ortega had mysteriously disappeared, and hadn’t been heard from for days. People were wondering if he was dead. Turns out that he’s not, and since this story’s straight, here ya go:
“You worked a miracle resuscitating me, because for a lot of people, I was dead”, joked the president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, to newly-designated Cardinal Leopoldo José Brenes, whom he received at the airport in Managua with a large crowd of Catholics.
The head of state reappeared on Monday after nine days’ absence, which had generated rumors of his death, since his heart problems had worsened weeks before.
[…]
The Sandinista leader left midnight on Tuesday for Caracas, to participate in memorial services for the late Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, on the first anniversary of the Bolivarian Revolution leader’s death.
“We have to head out for Venezuela, because it’s the anniversary of the death of President Chávez,” Ortega explained to the new cardinal, at a ceremony transmitted by Nicaraguan state television on Channel 6.
Chávez died on March 5, 2013, upon losing his battle to cancer.
Translation mine.
So, there you have it. Chavecito may be gone (and sadly missed!), but Daniel Ortega is still with us. Washington might say otherwise, but I’m glad that he is. It would be terribly awkward (and potentially tragic for Nicaragua) if he were not.
PS: Here’s some Telesur video of Ortega welcoming the new cardinal:
