Nicaragua's Ortega looks for control of army, police

MANAGUA, Jan 17 (Reuters) Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega wants to take direct control of the army and police, but critics warn it could mark a return to the authoritarian rule of the 1980s when he led a Marxist revolutionary government.

Ortega sent a reform proposal to Congress on Monday that proposes limiting the power of the defense and interior ministers over the army and police force, and giving more to the president.

He first seized power in a popular 1979 revolution that toppled a family dictatorship and then led Nicaragua in a civil war against US-backed Contra rebels before being voted out of office in 1990.

He was reelected president in November and took office last week, joining a growing anti-US bloc in Latin America led by Venezuela's populist president, Hugo Chavez.

Ortega's first reform proposals were quickly condemned by critics. ''What we see here is his authoritarian slant,'' conservative lawyer Gabriel Alvarez said yesterday.

The proposals will be discussed with senior army and police chiefs, and Congress is expected to begin debating them on Friday.

Ortega, who said he dropped the Marxist policies of the 1980s, ran for election as a moderate center-leftist. Rivals and some business leaders, however, fear he will follow Chavez's lead and extend government control over the economy.

He insists he will respect private property and wants good relations with the United States even as he allies himself with Chavez and leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales.

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