Enrique Bolaños

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Enrique Bolaños

47th President of Nicaragua
In office 10 January 2002 – 10 January 2007
Preceded by	Arnoldo Alemán Lacayo
Succeeded by	José Daniel Ortega Saavedra

Born	13 May 1928 Masaya, Nicaragua
Political party	Alliance for the Republic

Enrique José Bolaños Geyer (born 13 May 1928) was the President of Nicaragua from 2002 to 2007. President Bolaños is of Spanish and German heritage and was born in Masaya (department of Masaya). He received his education in the United States, graduating from Saint Louis University in 1962.

He publicly opposed the Sandinista controlled government of the 1980s, resulting in brief imprisonment, intimidation, threats from the government and political persecution. His cotton farming operations, SAIMSA, were confiscated during the first Sandinita adminstration of the 1980s.

Bolaños served as vice president under his predecessor, Arnoldo Alemán. On 4 November 2001 he beat Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front party in the presidential elections and was sworn in as president on 10 January 2002.

He was a member of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) until he broke with it to help form the Alliance for the Republic (APRE). At the beginning of his term he led an anti-Corruption campaign against his predecessor and the head of the PLC Arnoldo Alemán politically isolating himself from the influential Liberal Party. Institutional struggles for power between the legislative, executive and judicial branches resulted in great inefficiency for the Bolaños government.

1 Biography
2 Early Political Career
3 2001 Presidential Elections
4 Presidency
5 Notes

[edit] Biography

Enrique José Bolaños Geyer was born in Masaya, Nicaragua on 13 May 1928 to Nicolás Bolaños Cortés and Amanda Geyer. His father, a wealthy businessman, was poisoned by an employee. The Bolaños family has played a minor role in Nicaraguan politics, traditionally associated with the deep-rooted Liberal Party that brought Somoza dynasty to power in 1939. Bolaños, however, carefully aligned himself with the anti-Somoza Liberal Constitutionalist Party founded by Ramiro Sacasa Guerrero in 1968. The Bolaños family has usually maintained a liberal, hands-off approach to Nicaraguan politics, focusing rather on entrepreneurial endeavors.

Enrique Bolaños received his primary and secondary education in Nicaragua, and graduated from St. Louis University with a degree in industrial engineering. In 1949 he married Lila T. Abaúnza and bore five children: Enrique José, Lucía Amanda, Jorge Alejandro (deceased, 2005), Javier Gregorio (deceased, 2007) and Alberto (deceased, 1972).

In 1952 he began a successful agro-production company, SAIMSA (Industrial Agricultural Services of Masaya), which grew to become one of the largest cotton producer in Central America. Bolaños served as an active member of the influential COSEP (Supreme Council for Private Enterprise), and served as president from 1983-1988. COSEP was an anti-Sandinista institution that focused on promoting free enterprise and limiting governmental interference in the private sector.

Bolaños publicly opposed the Nicaraguan governemnt that was controlled by the Sandinista party. He was arrested on 20 October 1981 for having violated censorship laws. One month later he was imprisoned again upon returning from an AIL (Association of Latin American Enterprises) conference in Venezuela. In July 1982 he was jailed for sponsoring a conference of potential American investors at his cotton plantation in Masaya. Under the governemnt's controvesial agrarian reform program SAIMSA was confiscated and reappropriated to small farmers.

After the nationalization of his business, Bolaños worked as a computer programmer until his election to the vice-presidency in 1996.

[edit] Early Political Career

In the 1990 elections, Bolaños was denied presidential candidacy for the UNO (a coalition of multiple anti-Sandinista parties), as he was considered far too stubborn and difficult to work with in the context of democratization and national reconciliation. Violeta Chamorro was chosen instead.

In 1996 Bolaños was chosen by presidential candidate and former mayor of Managua Arnoldo Alemán Lacayo as vice-presidential candidate for the PLC (Liberal Constitutionalist Party). Bolaños was also elected as campaign manager for the Liberal Party in the 1996 elections. Alemán defeated Ortega with 51% of the vote, and Alemán and Bolaños were sworn in as president and vice president, respectively, on 10 January 1997. During his tenure as vice-president, Bolaños kept a discrete profile even with rising allegations of corruption against Alemán and many members of his cabinet.

Following the devastation of Hurricane Mitch in 1998, Bolaños was responsible for the management of foreign aid. He spearheaded a movement to review and redact Nicaragua’s laws concerning the prevention and management of natural disasters.

[edit] 2001 Presidential Elections

Bolaños was chosen as the Presidential candidate for the 2001 elections at the Grand Convention of the Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC) meeting in 2001. Former President Arnoldo Alemán handpicked Bolaños as his successor.

La Prensa and other Nicaraguan newspapers have since reported that Alemán chose Bolaños as an interim president. Because the Nicaraguan Constitution forbids consecutive presidential terms, it is believed that Alemán sought a candidate who could be easily manipulated, allowing him to govern from behind the scenes until the 2006 elections, when he would seek re-election. Alemán has denied these allegations.

While Bolaños had the support of the powerful PLC, he was widely regarded as an American “puppet” candidate and was also seen as apathetic and lacking charisma. Many voters saw him as a weak public figure, particularly because he had failed to speak out against the rampant corruption present during Alemán’s tenure as president. Daniel Ortega, the main opposition candidate, commonly referred to Bolaños as a “candidate for the wealthy” and a “senile” old man unfit for office. Ortega's party, the FSLN gave him the nickname “bola de años” a pun on his surname literally translated as “ball of years.”

In August 2001 he publicly denounced corruption in the presidency, indirectly distancing himself from Alemán without publicly attacking him. Bolaños also accused Daniel Ortega of “destroying” the country’s economy during the 1980s and criticized his close ties to Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez and Muammar al-Gaddafi.

Public polls showed Ortega and Bolaños virtually tied up to the elections held on 5 November 2001. On election day, a massive 90% voter turnout overburdened the polls. Some Nicaraguans waited in line for as much as 10 hours before casting their vote. Bolaños won the presidential elections with 56.3% of the vote, Daniel Ortega received 42.3% and Conservative Party candidate Alberto Saborio received 1.4%. Three thousand international observers from the United States, United Nations and Europe declared the elections clean and fair, and there was no violence and minimal public disturbance during the elections.

[edit] Presidency

Enrique Bolaños was sworn in as President of the Republic of Nicaragua on 10 January 2002 to serve a five year term (2002-2007). Two days later, he began an anti-corruption campaign to investigate and prosecute all former and current state employees who engaged in corrupt behavior.

Arnoldo Alemán, then serving as a member of the National Assembly and the Central American Parliament, was formally charged with corruption in December 2002, and was stripped of his parlimentary immunity. Alemán, along with some family members and other high-ranking party officials, was convicted of money laundering, embezzlement of $100,000,000 and corruption. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, which, because of health reasons, he currently serves under house arrest.

Immediately following the prosecution of Alemán, Bolaños was kicked out of the PLC — over which Alemán retains overwhelming influence — and formed his own independent political party, APRE (Alliance for the Republic).

In September 2005 Bolaños publicly announced what he called a “slow motion coup” by the joint efforts of the PLC and the FSLN. The executive branch was partially stripped of its powers to appoint ministers and public officials, but with the backing of the U.S. threats to cut off aid, this was reversed, and any constitutional changes put off until the following year [1] [2]. This reversal coincided with passage of the CAFTA by the Nicaraguan legislature [3].

Bolaños has been frequently criticized for his previous close ties to Alemán. It has been argued that during his term Bolaños received a substantial pension from his tenure as vice-president, as well as a $300,000 a year salary for the presidency. However, the monthly presidnetial salary was reduced at the outset of the Bolanos administration, and the pension from his tenure as vice-president was eliminated by the National Assembly.

Bolaños worked closely with the IMF and the World Bank to reduce Nicaragua’s foreign debt by means of cooperation with Structural Adjustment Programs. He also created a long-term National Development Plan meant to reduce poverty and diversify Nicaragua’s traditionally agriculture dominated economy.

In the 2006 presidential election campaign Bolaños' Alliance for the Republic party joined the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance, whose candidate Eduardo Montealegre took second place.

Bolaños turned over the presidency to his longtime political opponent Daniel Ortega on 10 January 2007. By nature of his status as outgoing President, he assumed a seat in the new session of the National Assembly. Bolaños has stated that he will continue work in opposition to Ortega’s presidency.