In most parts of the world, including the North Pole, Christmas comes but once a year. But in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua, the Christmas trees along the downtown streets are lit festively every night of the year - even in July. The nightly ritual of lighting the trees (in this case, metal poles decorated with strings of lights and various other ornaments) serves as an eternal celebration of the Sandinista government's victory over the energy deficit inherited from the previous administration, at least according to Omar Cabezas, the ombudsman for the administration of President Daniel Ortega.