Alemán Lacayo, (José Arnoldo) (1946– )

Nicaraguan right-wing politician, president 1997–2002. Standing as the candidate of the right-wing Liberal Alliance, he defeated Daniel Ortega in the October 1996 presidential contest. He assumed office in January 1997 and declared as his administration's priorities a fight against corruption and the resolution of legal problems arising from the Sandinista Liberation Front's (FSLN's) confiscation of land during the 1980s.

A graduate of Léon University, during the 1960s he was a leader of the pro-Somoza Liberal Student Youth Organization. He worked as an attorney and university lecturer during the 1970s, but, following the overthrow of the Somoza regime, was imprisoned in 1980 for alleged counter-revolutionary activity. He was placed under house arrest again in 1989, by the left-wing Sandinista (FSLN) government of Daniel Ortega before, in 1990, being elected mayor of the capital, Managua.