Latin American elections are Reagan-era redux with a twist

by Tom Gallagher

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While North Americans head to the polls today, national elections took place this past Sunday in both Nicaragua and Guatemala.

The victors, Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and Otto Perez Molina in Guatemala, are different men than they were years ago.

Today, Bloomberg offers this editorial on the elections:

"The results of presidential elections in Nicaragua and Guatemala on Sunday -- won, respectively, by a leftist revolutionary and a right-wing military man -- could almost lead one to think we’re back in the Reagan era.

Well, yes and no. Some of the characters are the same, but the roles are reversed. Former liberators are turning into tyrants; once-threatening militaries have become potential rescuers."