BY FRANCES ROBLES

 MANAGUA -- Vice presidential candidate José Antonio Alvarado is what here in Nicaragua they call "a Miami boy.''

 Once he was vice president of the boards of Miami-Dade Community College and the United Way. As a successful investment banker, he volunteered and
 served on Miami Children's Hospital's board of trustees.

 But he packed all that up and liquidated his company AIBC Financial Corp. to return to Nicaragua, like thousands of other Miami boys whose hearts drove them home when the leftist Sandinista era ended in 1990. He wanted to test democracy. He wanted a big, important job -- like vice president.

 But his burning desire to make his way up in politics -- and a little scrap about U.S. citizenship -- caused a sharp downward spiral. The man who once held some of the most important government positions in Nicaragua is now camped out at the offices of the Supreme Electoral Council in Managua. He waits to clear up a controversy about his qualifications to run for vice president.

 He's been there 10 hot days and rainy nights.

 A salt and pepper beard is growing in. Flies are buzzing around the coolers and coffee his family has brought. Ice cream vendors set up shop around him. He'd stink, too, if it weren't for the neighbors who let him use their showers.

 "Sorry for the environment,'' he tells a reporter. ``We're not in a hotel.''

 Alvarado, 49, used to be one of the right-hand-men of President Arnoldo Alemán, of the ruling Liberal Constitutional Party. Alvarado was minister of education, minister of defense and minister of government -- wielding power over the National Police and immigration services. He was ambassador to the Vatican when he was just 21 years old, and ambassador to the United Nations at 25.

 But when Alvarado wasn't tapped to be next for the country's top job, and spoke out against nepotism and corruption, he broke from the Liberal Party. He instead joined the Conservative Party presidential ticket with Noel Vidaurre, a third-place team few think has any hopes of winning the November elections.

 But Alvarado's old friends aren't letting him off so easily. Top members of the ruling party say he can't run because he did not follow the fine print when he renounced his American citizenship. And the committee that decides whether Alvarado can run -- the Supreme Electoral Council -- has four Liberal Party members.

 His fate is so awash in politics that the three Sandinista council members who would side with him (and lose) have chosen instead to boycott the council meetings. So
 they don't make a quorum. They can't vote.

 And Alvarado waits outside.

 The deadline to announce the candidates was last week.

 "I'll be out here as long as necessary,'' he said. "You have to struggle for your rights. Nobody can take away your rights. Even the president is not above the law. I
 learned that in the United States.''

 Alvarado lived in Europe and the United States for almost 20 years. He holds master's and doctoral degrees in law and finance from Harvard, a master's in economics from the University of Rome and a law degree from Universidad Centro Americana in Managua. He has three children, an attorney wife, and a solid reputation as an efficient, honest and ambitious politician.

 "He's an excellent candidate,'' said Wilfredo Navarro, legal representative of the Liberal Party. ``He just doesn't meet the requirements.''

 Navarro said it was Alvarado's impatience that landed him where he is now.

 "He wants power -- definitely,'' said Adolfo Calero, a Conservative Party congressman who is backing the Liberals this election. ``And he had it. He just didn't know how to keep it. You keep it by working as a team with those who are in power. He converted himself into a lone wolf.''

 But Alvarado refuses to be swayed.

 "This country's youth doesn't have any role models. They are frustrated. They don't have dreams,'' Alvarado said. ``If we get through this, I am sure we will be able to capture the dreams and hopes of the people. The people don't want more of the same or a lot of the same.

 "They want something different.''

 The electoral council had another meeting scheduled Tuesday. They failed to make quorum.

                                    © 2001