Daniel Ortega reappeared this Tuesday, December 7, in a family prayer at his residence and office in El Carmen, after accumulating his first 29 days absent since his “re-election” on November 7, when he was proclaimed elected in questioned voting without competition, and the next day he pronounced his most virulent speech against the political prisoners that his regime continues to increase.
Ortega was shown in official media images wearing an Adidas sports outfit, which recalled the outfit that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro also wore in his last years. In the images, he was sitting with his wife, vice president and spokesperson, Rosario Murillo, surrounded by several sons, daughters, daughters-in-law, sons-in-law and granddaughters and grandsons of the presidential family, participating in a private prayer on the occasion of the Gritería in honor of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, which is celebrated every December 7 in Nicaragua.
Daniel Ortega thus accumulates his first 29 days absent, this being the fourth time that the president reached this record of absences in 2021.
The last time that the dictator participated in a public act was exactly on November 8, in an act to celebrate his “re-election” after the November 7 votes, carried out without political competition, with zero transparency, with the imprisonment of opponents and the generalized repression against civil society, independent media.
In that act broadcast for two and a half hours on a chain imposed by Telcor of radio, television and cable, Ortega dedicated his most virulent hate speech against political prisoners, calling them “sons of bitches of imperialism”, while attacking to the international community, mainly the European Union and the United States, whom he called “fascists” and “Nazis” for the convictions and ignorance of the November 7 voting process.
Among the prisoners of conscience are the presidential candidates of the opposition Cristiana Chamorro, Arturo Cruz, Félix Maradiaga, Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Medardo Mairena, Miguel Mora and Noel Vidaurre, accused of conspiracy against national sovereignty and money laundering.
A CID Gallup poll conducted in October, commissioned by CONFIDENTIAL, revealed that any of the seven imprisoned candidates would have beaten Ortega in free elections, obtaining 65% against 17% of the votes for Ortega.
The leader was accompanied on that occasion on his platform by the high command of the Nicaraguan Army and the National Police, as well as diplomatic representatives from Abkhazia and South Ossetia and the Russian Federation.
An unusual period of public interventions
Before this new period of absences, Ortega maintained an unusual rhythm of public presentations, mainly due to the various party events that take place between the months of September and October, in addition to participating in the anniversary events of the National Police and the Army, which which is a custom of the dictator.
In September, Ortega made five public appearances. In October, in the middle of an irrelevant electoral campaign, he participated in three open acts, in which he did not make a single campaign promise.
Nor did it announce new development policies, investments or projects. In these three interventions, he attacked and imposed the radio and television network to attack political prisoners, violating the Electoral Law by engaging in political proselytizing with State resources.
Precisely, one day before his last public appearance, Ortega flagrantly violated the Electoral Law again by appearing on a radio, television and cable network at noon on November 7, when the voting was taking place, to defend the alleged “legitimacy” of the process.
In that appearance, in which Ortega was accompanied by his wife and vice presidential candidate, Rosario Murillo, the president described the voting that Sunday as “a sign and a commitment of the majority for peace.”
Ortega, after casting his vote in another event transmitted from the voting center established for his convenience in the El Carmen neighborhood, insisted again that he was the victim of a coup attempt financed by the United States in 2018.
He also accused opponents of being responsible for “destroying the economy” and said that they managed to restore peace in reference to “Operation Cleanup”, as the violent clearing of the barricades erected by citizens to defend themselves from the bloody attacks of the Police and paramilitaries.
Daniel Ortega maintains his absent record of 40 days
However, despite this new long period of absences, Ortega still does not exceed his own record, which is 40 days, registered in the period from January 11 to February 21, 2021.
Throughout this year, Ortega also had two other extended periods of absence, of 34 and 38 days respectively. All these periods in which Ortega has been absent, there have been crises such as the reappearance of contagions of covid-19 or the bloodiest days of the repressive escalation in the midst of the voting context, which registers more than 40 new prisoners politicians among presidential candidates, activists, journalists, businessmen and peasant and student leaders.
Precisely, in this last period of absences, the regime faces another political crisis derived from the strong international condemnation of the November 7 vote, which has resulted in a new round of sanctions against regime officials by the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom.
In addition, the General Assembly of the Organization of American States, in a resolution adopted on November 12, declared – with 25 votes in favor, one against, seven abstentions and one absence – that the Nicaraguan elections of November 7 “did not they were free, fair or transparent and they do not have democratic legitimacy ”.
In response, the regime designed a rigged political strategy in which it simulated a supposed independence of powers in Nicaragua and then announced that there was a consensus in the country for Ortega to initiate the process of leaving the country from the OAS.
However, the announcement of this transcendental diplomatic move, which would put an end to 73 years of relationship between the regional body and Nicaragua, was not made by Ortega, who delegated his foreign minister, Denis Moncada Colindres, to be the one to appear before the media. propaganda and will report that the regime began the process of leaving the OAS.
