The Nicaraguans, rolling from tyranny to tyranny
On July 17, 1979, Nicaraguans lived it with joy. That day, Anastasio Somoza Debayle left Nicaragua after 10 years of dictatorial rule. Daniel Ortega was the main architect of this collapse, when he headed the Sandinista National Liberation Front. What we tend to forget is that Ortega has already been in power almost three times as long as Somoza tyrannized Nicaragua.
And so?
Of the 43 years that have elapsed since the fall of Somoza, in only 17 Nicaragua has been governed by an opposition alliance, fundamentally by the Liberal Constitutionalist Party of liberal orientation although conservative and nationalist.
The other 26 years are of totally Ortega hegemony, with a third period that began in 2007 and will continue until 2027 after winning elections that the entire world described as fraudulent. Ortega shares power with her wife Rosario Murillo, denounced by Amnesty International for her constant incitement to “attack, stigmatize and criminalize citizens who have bravely demonstrated in the streets.”
In the last 13 years, Ortega ordered the closure of 20 newspapers, radio and television channels, 12 of them after the street riots of 2018. To ensure his fifth term, Ortega had three opposition leaders arrested in 2021 who wanted to dispute the presidency in the elections that year. Arturo Cruz, Félix Maradiaga and Juan Sebastián Chamorro, purge, after a summary trial, a sentence of 13 years in prison.
Not satisfied with this toboggan of violations of human rights and constitutional guarantees, Ortega has just perpetrated what even Alfredo Stroessner did not dare to do in his day: arrest a bishop of the Catholic Church, Monsignor Rolando Alvarez, for the alleged crime of “persist in destabilizing and provocative activities”.
The operation was carried out in the style of tyranny, that is, running over the residence of the prelate at 03:20 in the morning of last Friday the 19th. Other people were arrested with him, confined in the Chipote prison, in Managua.
Persecuted priests, imprisoned politicians, closed media outlets and the right to public protest cancelled. And an autocrat who eternalizes himself in power.
Nicaraguans, what remains of that jubilant dawn on July 17, 1979?
.fb-background-color { background: #ffffff !important; } .fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe { width: 400px !important; }
The entrance revolution betrayed was first published in The Independent.
