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…showed last 75 words of 304 total…over charges of corruption and the continuing influence of the Sandinistas on the government and the army. Former Managua mayor and Conservative candidate Arnoldo Aleman won the 1996 election. His closest rival was former president and Sandinista Daniel Ortega. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch devastated Nicaragua, killing more than 9,000 people, leaving 2 million people homeless, and causing $10 billion in damages. Many Nicaraguans fled to the U.S., which had extended an immigration amnesty program, lasting until July 1999, to Nicaraguans.