Nicaraguan Army Will Now Have Its Own Paramilitary
Ortega and Murillo establish the “Patriotic Military Reserves”
The “Patriotic Military Reserve” will include army veterans and civilians willing to participate in armed combat, according to the text of the revised Military code. Critics call it a plan to give the army their own paramilitary forces, just like the police have.
HAVANA TIMES – The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has approved the creation of a “Patriotic Military Reserve” force within the Nicaraguan Army, a kind of “paramilitary” for the country’s armed forces.
The body was created via a change to Nicaragua’s Military Code approved on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 by the country’s National Assembly, which infallibly rubber-stamps the dictatorship’s initiatives. By including this “Patriotic Military Reserve” within a broader revision, the dictatorship is trying to give it an apparent legality, despite the concerns it should raise, say national security experts.
The Patriotic Reserve Military Forces “will be voluntarily integrated by officers, officials, non-commissioned officers, and lower ranking soldiers and sailors who have attained the honorable condition of retirement or discharge from the Nicaraguan Army, as well as any citizen who wishes to participate in the armed defense of the nation,” reads the approved reform.
The revised code further specifies that the primary function of this Military Reserve will be “the armed defense of the nation, to guarantee stability, security and peace”. The following paragraph adds that these Reserve Forces will be integrated by “land, naval and air troops organized in small and large groups, according to policies established in the Nicaraguan Army’s internal military regulations.”
Similar to the “Volunteer Police”
Analysts on national security issues, consulted by CONFIDENCIAL, believe that the real purpose of this Patriotic Military Reserve is to “intimidate the population”. They see the reserves as the Army’s equivalent of recent National Police ceremonies, where a total of 76,887 hooded citizens were sworn in as “volunteer police”.
The supposed volunteer policemen are mostly public employees who were forced to enroll, although the ranks also include paramilitaries who in 2018 helped repress the population’s mass protests. With the final approval of the dictatorship’s constitutional “reform” in January 2025, and its publication in February, these armed bodies obtained legal character. However, their actions continue to be illegitimate, specialists assess.
“In the case of this reserve force, I see the same playbook we saw with the ‘volunteer police.’” These bodies can be highlighted in the media, precisely to frighten the population and make them believe that surveillance is everywhere, and that they [the regime] have control over everything that happens in the country”, stressed one of the specialists.
In practical terms, he added, this Patriotic Military Reserve makes no sense, since “the tasks of the Army are not about maintaining internal order, but have to do with the defense of sovereignty and the national territory.” In addition, he noted: “there is no medium-term threat on the horizon of a military conflict in which Nicaragua would participate.”
The feared “Patriotic Military Draft” of the eighties
Another analyst believes that the fact of opening the door to all citizens to join together in the Patriotic Military Reserves is smoothing the way towards the implementation of some type of generalized military service, as was done during the eighties, but for the moment no longer mandatory.
Although affiliation with the Reserve Military Forces will be “voluntary,” those who join must submit to “control, training and military education provided by the Army,” commented the analyst. In addition, he notes that these Patriotic Reserve Forces comprised of civilians “augments the size, nature and character of the paramilitary in Nicaragua”.
“No longer will it be only the Police that have paramilitaries, now the Nicaraguan Army as well. We could be on the threshold of a militarization of the population,” the analyst stressed.
Both analysts agree that the creation of these Patriotic Reserve Forces “would give the regime greater social control,” due to the fact that sanctions, “even of a military nature”, could be established for deserters.
“Directorate of Patriotic Education” for the Army
Another significant change, which appears in the reformed Military Code, adds a Directorate of Patriotic Education to the high commands of the Nicaraguan Army. It defines such education as “the backbone of the formation of a Nicaraguan soldier,” and establishes its principles as nationalism, patriotism, freedom, democratic solidarity, defense of the national sovereignty and social justice, among others.
Another article extends the time of active military service for officers from 40 to 45 years, adding: “for institutional interest, the time of presentation for military service could be extended” for general officers.
The extension of the time of active military service strengthens the “institutional plug” in the upper echelons of the Army. Some 26 generals have ensconced themselves permanently in their chairs, among them General Julio Cesar Aviles, head of the Army, and Major Generals Bayardo Rodriguez and Marvin Corrales, Chief of Staff and Inspector General, respectively.
Supreme Command of the Army to respond to the “Co-Presidency”.
These recent changes to the Military also incorporate changes established in the 2025 Constitutional reform. Among them are the subordination of the Army to the Co-Presidency, which is now officially shared by Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo.
“The Army will be subordinated to the civil authority exercised by the Presidency of the Republic as Commander in Chief of the Army of Nicaragua, as established constitutionally,” states the text of the revised law. The presidency now includes two co-presidents.
The revised document, however, does not clarify which of the two co-presidents commands the Army and how disagreements between the two will be resolved.
In other changes, the term of the Army Head has been increased from five to six years; the Army’s restrictions on intervening in matters of internal order have been lifted; and the Sandinista party flag has been added to the list of patriotic symbols.
First published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.