Nicaragua’s Ortega rails at US hegemony

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UNITED NATIONS, Sept 26 (AP): Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega accused the US of imposing a worldwide dictatorship and defended the right of Iran and North Korea to pursue nuclear technology in a speech Tuesday before the UN General Assembly meeting.
Ortega also angrily denounced President Bush for criticising Cuban leader Fidel Castro during his speech earlier in the day.
Ortega, who took office in January, said little had changed since he last addressed the world body as the Marxist leader of Nicaragua's Sandinista-run government two decades ago.
The world is under "the most impressive, huge dictatorship that has existed - the empire of North America," he said. An "imperialist minority is imposing global capitalism to impoverish us all and impose apartheid against Latin American immigrants and against African immigrants."
He said the United States, as the only country to have used nuclear bombs in a war, was in no position to question the right of Iran and North Korea to pursue nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.