Nicaragua: Gen. Humberto Ortega in “Serious Condition”
Humberto Ortega has been under house arrest since May 2024, “He suffered a sudden deterioration in his condition with cardiogenic shock,” according to the Military Hospital.
HAVANA TIMES – The health of retired General Humberto Ortega,, former head of the Nicaraguan Army, deteriorated on the morning of Sunday, September 29, 2024, leading to his admission to “intensive care,” according to a statement from the “Dr. Alejandro Davila Bolaños” Military Hospital.
“The patient experienced a sudden deterioration in his condition with cardiogenic shock and an altered state of consciousness, which required intensive care treatment to maintain blood pressure levels,” stated the Military Hospital in a press release.
This is the first time the Nicaraguan Army has acknowledged that the retired general is hospitalized at the Military Hospital. Since May 2024, the regime has kept Humberto Ortega Saavedra under house arrest.
In June 2024, Confidencial reported that the National Police had transferred the former Army chief to the Military Hospital with symptoms of a heart attack at his home, where he was under house arrest. Neither the Army nor the Police acknowledged Humberto Ortega’s condition at the time.
“On June 11, 2024, at 6:50 PM, patient Humberto Ortega Saavedra, 77 years old, was received from his home, accompanied by his attending doctors (Dr. Ariel Argüello and Dr. Jesser Rizo),” the Military Hospital’s note says.
According to the statement, the retired general was admitted with the following conditions:
- History of chronic arterial hypertension.
- Type 2 diabetes.
- Dual-chamber permanent pacemaker.
- Chronic atrial fibrillation.
- Peripheral vascular disease.
- Exacerbated chronic heart failure.
“He was received complaining, with a tendency toward hypotension, with lung sounds suggestive of acute heart failure, and signs of soft tissue infection in his left lower limb, concluding that the patient was suffering from sepsis and heart failure,” the medical center reported.
Humberto Ortega overcame that crisis and was transferred —though the exact date was not provided— to a regular room at the Military Hospital, where he was treated by a multidisciplinary team: cardiologist, infectious disease specialist, intensivist, nephrologist, surgeon, and nutritionist.
Humberto Ortega under “House Arrest”
The coercive measure of “house arrest” against the former Army chief was imposed following an interview with the Argentine media outlet Infobae, in which he stated that his older brother, Daniel Ortega, had no suitable successors.
In the interview, Humberto Ortega mentioned receiving medical care at the private Vivian Pellas Hospital. “I have had serious cardiovascular events in the context of the tense and polarized political and social conflict, as well as COVID, in 2018. I was urgently admitted to the Vivian Pellas Hospital in Managua. Later, since December of last year, I’ve suffered new events,” he explained.
Despite the retired general’s health issues, the National Police, under the command of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, prohibited family members and private medical personnel from entering the home of the former military chief, who remained completely isolated.
“A doctor from the Ministry of Health came, but all they did was take his blood pressure,” a source close to the family complained.
On the night of May 28, 2024, Daniel Ortega appeared alongside Murillo at an event before Army and Police officers to annul a decoration that Humberto Ortega had awarded to US military attaché Lt. Col. Dennis F. Quinn on January 14, 1992.
During the event, the dictator used several derogatory terms to refer to his younger brother in front of the top brass of the Nicaraguan Army, although he avoided mentioning Humberto Ortega by name throughout the entire event.
First published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.