The US faces "an alliance of the left" in Latin America:

Daniel Ortega, the former Sandinista revolutionary who held power in Nicaragua through the 1980s and became a Cold War foe of the United States, completed his political comeback yesterday as he prepared to be sworn in as his country's new president after winning an election last November.

Among several world leaders expected to attend the inauguration in the capital, Managua, was Hugo Chavez, who was himself sworn in for a new term as President of Venezuela yesterday after his decisive electoral win there last month.

The Ortega ceremony was to be an uncomfortable reminder to the US of the recent return of leftist leaders to several Latin nations south of its borders, many of whom are likely to prove important allies of Mr Chavez, who has nurtured his popularity in part through anti-US rhetoric.