MANAGUA -- Amid the blur of waving Sandinista flags and the din of blaring campaign music, thousands of Sandinistas dressed in matching government-issued T-shirts lined the streets Tuesday to celebrate the inauguration of President Daniel Ortega, whose November reelection is considered i and illegitimate by Nicaragua’s opposition.

“You don’t have to fear the power of the people; it is what has given great stability (to Nicaragua) over the past five years,” Ortega said in his inaugural addressed before a packed, invitation-only crowd seated in plastic chairs lining the Plaza of the Revolution — the site of the original, spontaneous celebration of the Sandinista-led insurrectional victory over the U.S.-backed Somoza regime in 1979. “There needs to be a change of model. There is no more room in the world for savage capitalism.”

Thirty-two years later, critics claim Nicaragua is repeating its past of unconstitutional, strongman rule as Ortega begins another five-years term, despite a constitutional ban on consecutive reelection.

“Nicaragua is a country that has always abused its Constitution and government institutions. And Ortega is a continuation of that tradition,’’ said Victor Tirado, former Sandinista guerrilla leader and revolutionary comandante. “This is a dictatorship. Nicaragua can’t get out of this cycle; we are returning to where we started.”

There is also renewed concern on Capitol Hill about Ortega and the company he keeps, specifically with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was in full smiles at Tuesday night’s inauguration as he did a three-way handshake with Ortega and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

The U.S. has yet to recognize Ortega’s reelection victory, which was deemed “unverifiable” by the Carter Center. For the first time in Central America’s modern democratic history, Washington did not send a high-ranking official for the inauguration. The U.S. embassy’s c hargé d’affaires didn’t attend, but sent the political counselor in his stead.

Nine heads of state attended Ortega’s inauguration, including leaders from Haiti, Suriname, Aruba and Curacao. They were all overshadowed by Ahmadinejad — and his 90-member delegation. The Iranian leader’s visit played to Republican suspicions of Iran’s growing influence in Nicaragua.

“The United States must always aggressively protect and defend our security interests, and that goes double when the threat is close to our borders,” Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen R-Miami, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said recently. “It is no secret that Iran is actively working with its anti-American cohorts in Latin America to threaten U.S. interests. Iran’s activities in our region pose a serious threat to our security and must be faced head-on.”

Five years after Ahmadinejad’s first visit here in 2007 to reestablish ties between Iran and Nicaragua, lofty promises for aid, development, trade and investment have not panned out. The Iranian diplomatic presence, one of the quietest in the country, consists of three guys who live in a rented house.

Even as of Tuesday morning, the Sandinistas’ top presidential delegate for foreign investment admitted he didn’t know if Ahmadinejad’s visit for Ortega’s inauguration would translate into increased cooperation or investment from Iran.

“We haven’t had any exchange with the Iranian delegation yet regarding investment,” Gen. Alvaro Baltodano said.

Still, Sandinista officials insist Nicaragua is open to forming new relations with all countries in the world, and is sovereign to do so.

“I think this is what the future of the world looks like — countries from the world south, coalescing and coming together and sharing interest, sharing technology, sharing knowledge, but fundamentally sharing the future of the world which belongs to those of us who are working very hard in this new scenario of international relations,” said Valdrack Jaentschke, Nicaragua’s deputy foreign minister.