"One thing that is clear to her, as it is to Sergio Ramirez, Sofia Montenegro, Carlos Fernando Chamorro and others who seek to preserve the conscience of the old Sandinista cause, is that everything that Ortega and his people do is aimed at one objective: the perpetuation of his hold on power. (Currying favour with the Russians is deemed useful in this regard, which was why Mr Ortega decided that Nicaragua should be the first country to recognise the "independence" of South Ossetia after the Russian invasion in August.) . "