born Nov. 11, 1945, La Libertad, Nic.
President of Nicaragua (198490).
In 1963 he became a member of the Sandinista National Liberation Front and organized urban resistance to the corrupt dictatorship of the Somoza family . Jailed and later exiled, he returned secretly to Nicaragua and helped unite opposition to Somoza. After the Sandinistas prevailed in 1979, he coordinated the ruling junta; in 1984 he was elected Nicaragua's president. U.S. efforts to destabilize his government led to economic hardship and a protracted war, and Ortega lost his bid for reelection in 1990, 1996, and again in 2001. See also Violeta Chamorro ; contras .