MANAGUA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Daniel Ortega was sworn in as president of Nicaragua on Wednesday.

    Ortega, 61, led the country in 1979 after overthrowing the government of Anastasio Somoza. He won the presidency in 1984 but lost the next election and left power in 1990.

    After winning the election in November, Ortega said he would work with Washington within a framework of mutual respect.

    Meanwhile, Ortega also said he will be keeping close relations with other leftist leaders in Latin America, like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuba's leader Fidel Castro.

    Domestically, the president vowed to fight poverty and corruption and enforce free education.

    In the ceremony at the Non-Aligned Countries Square, Ortega received the presidential sash. Chavez, who was just sworn-in for his new term hours before Ortega, also showed up on the scene.

Profile: Nicaragua's new president Daniel Ortega ¡¡¡¡

    MANAGUA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Daniel Ortega, leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), on Wednesday was sworn in as the new president of Nicaragua in the Omar Torrijos Non-Aligned Nations Plaza.

    Born on Nov. 11, 1945, in a small town in central Nicaragua, Ortega began to study law in 1962 at Managua's Central American University.

    He became a member of the FSLN in 1963, and a member of the executive committee of the FSLN from 1964 to 1967. He was arrested several times during the early 1960s and went to Cuba in 1974.

    In 1979, the FSLN overthrew the government of Anastasio Somoza. He was first elected as Nicaragua's president in 1984.

    For many years in the 1980s, the then Ortega government fought a bitter war with the Contra rebels backed by the United States.

    Ortega ran for reelections in 1990 but lost to Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.

    Ortega participated in the presidential elections in 1996 and 2001, but failed in both attempts at a comeback.

    During the electoral campaign in 2006, Ortega promised to establish a government of peace as well as national reconciliation, and take measures to lift the Central American nation out of poverty.

    Ortega pledged to stem inflation, set up development banks aimed at providing loans to farmers and small businesses, create jobs, and give priorities to health and educational development.