Daniel Ortega was only a teenager when he began the fight against the Somoza dictatorship in the 60s. In 1979, he and the Sandinistas took power in Nicaragua. Photo: Alfredo Zuniga / AP
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42 years have passed since the guerrilla hero Daniel Ortega seized power for the first time. He is now accused of wanting to establish a dictatorship in Nicaragua.
Daniel Ortega (75) became a hero for the left when he led the Nicaraguan revolution in 1979. The dictator Somoza was chased by the Sandinistas and the Cuba-trained Ortega took over. First as junta leader and secondly as president-elect.
He was voted out of the presidency in 1990, managed to be re-elected in 2007 and will in November try to be re-elected for the fifth time.
—-Daniel Ortega will be elected president for the fifth time. His wife Rosario Murillo is vice president. Photo: Alfredo Zuniga/AP/NTB
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To do that, he uses very dirty tricks, according to critics.
- Opposition politicians, businessmen and community leaders are accused of money laundering, treason and “conspiratorial conspiracy”.
- The media is gagged, journalists are harassed by the police and foreign journalists refused entry to the country.
- One of the leading presidential candidates, Christina Charmorro, is among the accused. She has been deprived of the right to run in the presidential election.
Ortega accused of wanting to establish a dictatorship
“This is similar to the dictatorship’s anti – communist conduct in the 1970s,” said Ivan Briscoe of the International Crisis Group. according to Foreign Policy.
– It is not just about distorting the rules of the game, as you see it in Venezuela. It is in reality to remove the opposition completely.
Hugo Torres, who fought with Ortega against Somoza’s regime in the 1970s, was arrested on Sunday a week ago. Just before the arrest, he accused his former revolutionary colleague of promoting a “second dictatorship”.
—-Christina Chamorro has challenged President Damiel Ortega. She is now under investigation for money laundering and is under house arrest. Photo: CARLOS HERRERA / Reuters / NTB
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Christina Charmorro (67) is at the center of the allegedly politically motivated money laundering investigation. Her family is central to the country’s history. Her father, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, was an editor of the newspaper La Prensa before he was assassinated in 1978. The murder was one of the events that led to Somoza’s fall.
Her mother, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, knocked out revolutionary hero Ortega by beating him in the 1990 presidential election.
Christina Chamorro has so far been associated with La Prensa. At the same time, she led an organization that worked for freedom of speech, and which received monetary gifts from the United States.
The foundation was closed down earlier this year after a law was passed that stamps all organizations that receive funding from abroad as foreign agents.
The presidential candidate arrested
Christina Charmorro was placed under house arrest on June 2, the same day she declared her candidacy for president. Several other opposition politicians have been arrested and opposition parties declared unfit to stand for election.
The United States has imposed sanctions on four Nicaraguan officials in protest. One of them is the daughter of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo.
The Organization of American States, OAS, on Tuesday expressed concern about the increasingly difficult human rights situation in Nicaragua. The organization condemns the arrest of opposition politicians, reports Reuters.
Ortega’s regime has not been impressed. Instead, they have arrested even more critics.
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