Tens of thousands of chanting, flag-waving Nicaraguans turned out for opposition candidate Violeta Chamorro's final campaign rally, the largest anti-government demonstration in a decade of rule by the leftist Sandinista Front.
The rally in downtown Managua's Revolution Plaza Sunday marked the end of a disorganized, underfinanced campaign by Chamorro's National Opposition Union, or UNO, to unseat President Daniel Ortega.Ortega, who is to close out his campaign Wednesday, held a rally Sunday in Leon, about 50 miles north of Managua.
Chamorro and Ortega face off Feb. 25 in nationwide elections that will be supervised by former President Carter and hundreds of other observers from the United Nations and the Organization of American States.
Thousands of UNO supporters in blue and white T-shirts bearing the slogan "Violeta Can Do It" called for the end of Sandinista rule. "Make them go, make them go!" they chanted.
Virgilio Godoy, Chamorro's vice presidential running mate, said more than 250,000 people attended Sunday's rally, but estimates by international observers and journalists put the crowd at between 40,000 and 50,000.
That would make it the largest anti-Sandinista demonstration since the July 1979 revolution that overthrew the late dictator Anastasio Somoza.
UNO campaign manager Antonio Lacayo complained Sunday that the government tried to obstruct the UNO rally by pressuring musicians into canceling their contracts and by refusing permission for UNO to bring a sophisticated public address system into the country from neighboring Costa Rica.
The Interior Ministry Sunday ordered Catholic Radio to drop its linkup with other stations and resume regular programming instead of broadcasting UNO campaign speeches. The order was given orally by an unidentified official who said the election law forbids the church to participate in politics.
Sunday's marchers were mainly peaceful, although there were reports of minor scuffles between UNO supporters and police.
Pre-election opinion polls have provided conflicting reports on who is ahead in the contest, although most diplomats and independent political observers believe Ortega's Sandinista Front holds a slight edge based on a flashy, extensive campaign that has outspent, outmaneuvered and outgunned the UNO campaign at every turn.