Ortega takes oath for 3rd term as Nicaragua leader

Daniel Ortega was sworn in Tuesday for his third 5-year term as president of Nicaragua, shrugging off opposition complaints his re-election was illegal and vowing to govern with moderation.

Presidents from all other Central American nations attended the inauguration, but the most notable visitor was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is touring the region to bolster his country's alliances in the U.S. neighborhood at a moment of sharp disputes with Washington.

Ahmadinejad said both Iran and Nicaragua are "on the road to fight for the establishment of security and justice" and referred to Ortega as "my brother president."

Ortega's closest and most financially supportive ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, attended the ceremony after playing host to Ahmadinejad in Caracas.

"This is part of a unified process that has been set in motion (in Latin America), because only by being united will we truly be free," Chavez said of Ortega's re-election. The comment was apparently a reference to the countries in the region which, like Nicaragua, participate in the Chavez-inspired, left-leaning Bolivarian Alliance.

Ortega took the oath of office in front of about 8,000 people gahtered at Revolution Plaza, the site where Ortega and his ragtag band of Sandinista rebels celebrated the overthrow of dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979.

Ortega was a socialist firebrand then, and the U.S. government, enmeshed in the Cold War, tried to overthrow him by backing Contra rebels, but he eventually was voted out of office in 1990.