d'Escoto Elected President UN General Assembly

Submitted by fyl on 5 June, 2008 - 11:25.

AP and everyone else reports that Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann was elected president of the UN General Assembly yesterday. This did not come as a surprise to anyone.

"They elected a priest. And I hope no one is offended if I say that love is what is most needed in this world. And that selfishness is what has gotten us into the terrible quagmire in which the world is sinking, almost irreversibly, unless something big happens," d'Escoto said during a news conference. "This may sound like a sermon. Well, OK."

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Facts on new UN assembly head D'Escoto

Submitted by DanPolley on 7 June, 2008 - 09:37.

(Reuters) - Former Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, a fierce critic of the United States, was elected president of the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, a post he will hold for a year from September.

Following are some facts about D'Escoto:

-- The son of a Nicaraguan diplomat, D'Escoto, 75, was born in Los Angeles and studied in the United States, where he was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest with the Maryknoll mission and embraced the left-wing liberation theology movement.

-- D'Escoto has been a foreign policy adviser to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega since he returned to power in 2006.

-- Ignoring a reprimand by Pope John Paul II for backing Nicaragua's left-wing Sandinista revolution, he ended up joining revolutionary leader Daniel Ortega's government as foreign minister for his 1979-1990 rule, which was marked by a decade-long civil war against U.S.-backed "Contra" rebels.

-- D'Escoto's anti-American past includes successfully taking the United States to the International Court of Justice in the Hague for arming Contra rebels and staging a hunger strike against U.S. policy. In 2004 he told a U.S. news program former President Ronald Reagan was "the butcher of my people" and called President George W. Bush Reagan's "spiritual heir".

The complete article is at http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSN0342497020080604

Quote Source

Submitted by fyl on 7 June, 2008 - 10:21.
The source for the quote 'In 2004 he told a U.S. news program former President Ronald Reagan was "the butcher of my people"' is Democracy Now!. Here is the entire first paragraph of what he said:
First of all, let me start out by saying that, of course, Reagan is now dead. And I, for one, would like to say only nice things about him. I’m not insensitive to the feelings of many U.S. people mourning president Reagan, but as I pray that god in his infinite mercy and goodness forgive him for having been the butcher of my people, for having been responsible for the deaths of some 50,000 Nicaraguans, we cannot, we should not ever forget the crimes he committed in the name of what he falsely labeled freedom and democracy.

I think the whole interview is worth reading or listening to. You may not agree with him but I think you will find him to a bit more sane than this one out of context quote. (If you listen to the program, the section about Reagan starts at about minute 13. Note that before that I learned that gasoline is Iraq cost $.05/gallon at the pump, subsidized by the U.S. government.)

Another opinion

Submitted by bluewater on 7 June, 2008 - 09:56.

For the Spanish language readers there is book detailing a part of the recent history of Leon written by Carlos Siles Levy. It is entitled Los Secretos Del Hotel Lacayo. It describes the actions of Padre D'Escoto where in he asked all of the wealthy people of Leon to do a fund raising venture and to bring their best silver, furniture and food to the home of a local matriarch to raise money for a social cause. They arrived, he filmed it and he later produced an attack piece on the decadence of the wealthy and oligarchy in Leon using the shots of her home and the fund raisers in a direct attack on unsuspecting people working on a social cause. Look it up.

Political Chameleon

Submitted by bluewater on 6 June, 2008 - 20:59.

Former Somozista, later Maryknoll "liberation theologist", now just another unconditional Ortega follower repeating his script. He is almost comedic if he was not so sincere in his effort to properly toe the Chamuca line.