Daniel Ortega used his first speech of 2023, during the installation of the new legislative period, to make it clear that he will not acquit the 235 political prisoners despite the “campaigns” for their release and assured that “not even with life imprisonment” could they settle the damage that, according to him, was caused to Nicaragua during the massive protests of 2018, which he again described as an “attempted coup d’état” to which he added the description of “bloody”.
Ortega insisted that “the terrorists”, as he calls all the people opposed to his regime, caused serious damage to Nicaraguan families and the national economy “with the roadblocks they maintained” in 2018, for which he justified himself by saying that he did not he had no choice but to “restore order” through “the Police, the Volunteer Police and the Army, guarding strategic areas.” In 2018, Ortega referred to the “Volunteer Police” to justify the massacre at the hands of paramilitary groups, made up of mobs and Ortega sympathizers, who acted together with the Police, now the main repressive arm of his dictatorship.
Ortega attributes 2018 deaths to the opposition
The repression of the 2018 protests left more than 300 dead in Nicaragua, which were denied by Ortega and his wife and Vice President Rosario Murillo, limiting himself to recognizing only Sandinista sympathizers and police. Now, Ortega referred to these deaths, mentioning the number specified by international human rights organizations. However, it attributed them to the opposition, despite the fact that the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) confirmed in December 2018 that between April 18 and May 30, In 2018, during the first weeks of the massacre, there were 109 murders in the country, the majority attributable to the State and parastatal groups, which it held responsible for crimes against humanity, before being expelled from the country by the Ortega dictatorship.
Ortega also urged his government cabinet “not to trust” because, he insisted, “the terrorists are always conspiring there” and assured that they have financing from the United States and the European Union.
“We are seeing how they act with the greatest audacity. Here, where crimes were committed, if the criminals are captured, the campaigns come to set the criminals free,” warned Ortega. “Won’t the weight of the law fall on them? Is justice going to disappear before the terrorists, before the coup plotters? Not! Just as we defend peace, we have to defend justice and the application of justice against criminals”, Ortega justified.
The “co-presidency” of Rosario Murillo
At the end of his speech, with which he inaugurated the new legislative period of the National Assembly, Ortega greeted the members of his cabinet and highlighted the work of some of them, such as the Vice Minister of the Interior, Luis Cañas, whom he said he calls at midnight to control migratory movements in the country —including— those who leave through blind spots, he said.
At the conclusion of the notes of the National Anthem, Ortega took the floor again to highlight the work of Rosario Murillo, his wife, spokesperson and vice president. He assured that “she exercises the functions of president” because “here (in Nicaragua) what there is is a co-presidency.”
Ortega’s greeting to Murillo occurs nine days after both they starred a discussion in public. The couple —who usually smile in front of the cameras— arrived angrily at the ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of Puerto Rican baseball player Roberto Clemente, at the old National Baseball Stadium and, after exchanging a few words, Murillo withdrew from the place and left Ortega alone before entering the act that they would preside over together.
The message to Lula da Silva in Brazil
Ortega also took advantage of his speech to refer to the attack by thousands of supporters of the former president of Brazil Jair Bolsonoro, who took by force – for about four hours – the headquarters of the Government, the Parliament and the Supreme Court of Brazil, seven days after the inauguration of the new president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. According to Ortega, the fact repeats “the same scheme” of the United States.
“Lula was in Sao Paulo, he was in another state, but they entered and the Police did nothing to stop them, they began to destroy and the images of the coup-provoking North Americans entering Congress and then the coup-provoking Bolsonaros entering Congress in Brazil came out, the same image”, compared Ortega.
Lula da Silva, one of the leaders of the Latin American left, has maintained a certain distance from the Nicaraguan regime in recent years. In August 2021 —inclusive— he joined the international condemnation of the Ortega regime in the midst of the brutal persecution against the opposition ahead of the presidential elections.
“Every time a ruler begins to believe that he is irreplaceable, every time a ruler begins to believe that he is essential, a bit of a dictatorship arises in that country (…). When one thinks that there is no one to replace us, we are transforming ourselves into dictators,” the current Brazilian president said at the time.
In October 2022, during the electoral campaign in Brazil, Lula da Silva again referred to the Nicaraguan situation. “If someone believes they are essential, a dictator is being born. But if Ortega is making a mistake, let the Nicaraguan people punish him,” she said during a debate with former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.
attack on canada
Ortega also dedicated part of his speech to reiterating attacks against the diplomatic people, while his regime has isolated itself due to the demands of the democratic international community that questions the legitimacy of his mandate and demands the release of political prisoners.
“We invite the entire diplomatic corps, we also invite those who respect us and those who hate us. Why? Because it is the diplomatic corps, as is normal to invite them. But there are some who have such a tantrum that they said: ‘no, we’re not going’”.
After the inauguration of the new legislative period, in accordance with current laws, Ortega would also have to render his government report. This January 10, in addition, marks one year since the establishment of his fourth consecutive term, after the November 2021 votes, in which he was re-elected after imprisoning seven presidential candidates and dozens of civic and political leaders. In addition, it is expected that the electoral court – under the absolute control of his dictatorship – will swear in the 153 mayors that the ruling Sandinista Front claimed, thus obtaining control of all the country’s territories.
According to Ortega, the argument on behalf of the diplomatic corps was that “they would not attend ‘until they do what we want, we won’t go'”, and he specifically accused the representative of the Government of Canada.
Ortega added: What do we tell him: ‘we are not a colony of Canada, make sure that horrendous crimes are not continued, like those that have been committed in Canada against the indigenous population, thousands of murdered children, thousands of murdered children.’ We are talking about a crime that was recently discovered, which unearthed thousands of murdered children there”.
The case to which Ortega would refer is the discovery of the remains of 215 underage students in a Catholic boarding school in Canada, published in May 2021.
Ortega added that there was “another representative” -who did not specify- who “simply excused himself, was careful not to say that he was not coming, because we did not do what they want us to do.” According to the dictator, this other unidentified representative “was respectful, because he simply excused himself.”
“But that of Canada – I continue – Canada is a country completely governed by colonialist governments and that at the same time are colonies of the great empire, that is, Canada is a colony of the United States and that empire has been looking for how to turn Latin Americans into a colony and Caribbean”.
