UNITED NATIONS -- Nearly a quarter century ago, defrocked Catholic priest Miguel D'Escoto was a foreign minister on a hunger strike, a liberation theologian protesting U.S. military aggression in Nicaragua.

Back then, D'Escoto's Central American nation was at war. Now, the longtime Sandinista Party stalwart begins a new era of politics in a time of peace -- as president of the United Nations 63rd General Assembly.

His leadership promises to provide a friendly forum for Latin America's left in its rally cry against Washington, as presidents like Bolivia's Evo Morales and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega gather here this week to address the international body.

They will be joined on the stage by the highest-ranking Cuban delegation to visit the U.N. in eight years. Cuban First Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura -- Raúl Castro's No. 2 -- is scheduled to speak at a Harlem church Monday, and take his turn before the General Assembly Wednesday morning.

While D'Escoto's job involves more protocol than power, he has already begun to use his pulpit to ruffle Bush administration feathers. D'Escoto has said his first priority will be to ''democratize'' the U.N. and reform the ''discredited'' 15-member Security Council.

''It is a sad but undeniable fact that serious breaches of the peace and threats to international peace and security are being perpetrated by some members of the Security Council that seem unable to break what appears like an addiction to war,'' D'Escoto said after being sworn in last week.

``In the case of some of those members, the veto privilege seems to have gone to their heads and has confused them to the point of making them think they are entitled to do as they please without consequence.''

MAKE A CHOICE

D'Escoto, 75, was a Maryknoll priest assigned to the Nicaraguan town of Estelí, north of the capital city of Managua, when he joined the Sandinista government. He was Ortega's foreign minister from 1979 to 1990 -- during the duration of the Sandinista war with the U.S.-backed Contra rebels -- and drew the ire of the Catholic church because of it.

Pope John Paul II ordered him to make a choice: politics or sacraments.

D'Escoto stuck with his cabinet post, and in 1985 even gave up solid foods for two months to protest U.S. military actions in the region. He lost 33 pounds before doctors warned him to give up his hunger strike.

Over the years, he remained a close advisor and ally of Ortega's. ''I think, if anything, D'Escoto's visit will be one more Nicaraguan embarrassment in its already weak foreign policy,'' said Manuel Orozco, a political analyst at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, D.C. 'Many of their foreign policy moves have been `solidarity' and 'Third-Worldist' with little decision-making involved.''

Under Ortega's leadership, Nicaragua joined Venezuela in breaking off relations with Colombia earlier this year when a crisis erupted with Ecuador. Nicaragua also sided with Russia in the war with Georgia and strengthened relations with Iran.

It's unclear how much leeway D'Escoto will have to steer the 192-member group. He will preside Tuesday before more than 123 foreign leaders.

DIPLOMATIC FLAP

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is not expected to attend the U.N. session, although Morales is scheduled to speak Monday afternoon. Morales' visit comes on the heels of a serious diplomatic flap with Washington, which ended with both sides yanking their ambassadors. Chávez also pulled his ambassador out of Washington -- a move he said was an act of solidarity with his Bolivian ally.

Machado Ventura's trip to New York comes at a critical time for Cuba, which was recently struck by two devastating storms. Machado Ventura has become the most visible face of the Cuban government during the difficult recovery, while Castro has remained behind the scenes.

''The Cubans could have sent Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque, who is younger and fire-breathing, to New York,'' said Ted Henken, a Cuba expert at Baruch College in New York. ``Machado Ventura is old, and can portray the image of the old hard line while Raúl stays behind and works on what seems like a pretty catastrophic crisis.''

AGING SOCIALISTS

Nicaraguan civic activist Roberto Courtney said D'Escoto belongs to that same alliance of aging socialists.

''Expect D'Escoto to push his vision and the Nicaraguan government's vision -- that would be the old left, not much changed from 1980 to now,'' Courtney said by phone from Managua. ``He will not be like other members of Latin America's left like Chile or Brazil, for example, who are more modern and less adversarial.''

D'Escoto has said he wants General Assembly resolutions to become binding, and said they are too often ignored by member states. A vocal critic of President Bush, his attacks against Washington riled the American mission to the U.N. as soon as he was named.

''The president of the General Assembly is supposed to be a uniter,'' Richard Grenell, a spokesman for the U.S. mission, said when D'Escoto was nominated.

``We have made it clear that these crazy comments are not acceptable, and we hope he refrains from this talk and gets to work on General Assembly business.''

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