Nicaragua, A Political Tragedy
How far will the insane new absolutist experiment of the Ortega-Murillo couple and “co-presidents” of Nicaragua go?
By Federico Hernandez Aguilar (14ymedio)
HAVANA TIMES – Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, as is often the case with entrenched despots, have finally lost one of the most basic political senses: that of proportion. The mere possibility of seeing themselves out of government is a dark cloud that has been threatening them since April 2018, when citizen discontent was expressed in the streets and squares of the main cities of Nicaragua like never before, demanding freedom. From that moment on, through the most crude repression, this marriage of unpresentables has done everything possible to accumulate power.
After removing political figures who could overshadow them, the Ortega-Murillos have also gone after social leaders who have dared to criticize them. Union spokespeople, Catholic bishops, representatives of non-official organizations, members of civic alliances and anyone who could be labeled as an “opponent” or “conspirator” have ended up behind bars or in exile. Even those businesspeople who, in order to look after their businesses, maintain their status or simply to avoid problems, were once active or passive accomplices of the regime, today pay a high price for the debt of bravery and courage they acquired — in exchange for crumbs — with their bleeding homeland.
Of course, when all the limits have been crossed, the political tragedy of a country irremediably borders on comedy. And the Ortega-Murillo couple is staging, from Nicaragua, the great Hispanic-American tragicomedy of our time. There is no capacity for astonishment that this criminal duo has not challenged. The mere fact that they are in power as a couple, in the official capacity of husband and wife — whether or not they share the marital bed — is in itself a challenge to any global historical revisionism of tyrannies. The Ortega-Murillo thing is already ridiculous, bizarre, grotesque.
The constitutional reforms approved a few days ago by the parliament controlled by the ruling party have completely restructured the country’s political system. Under the rhetorical name of the Law for the Protection of Nicaraguans from Sanctions and External Aggression, the Sandinistas, back in power since 2007, have impacted a hundred articles of the current Constitution, including the indefinite reelection of the president, the creation of the gaseous positions of “co-president” and “co-presidentess” for Daniel and his wife, and the tacit elimination of the separation of powers. In a display of totalitarian paroxysm, Ortega-Murillo have gone so far as to elevate the red and black flag of the ruling party to the rank of “patriotic symbol.”
Of course, in the company of Venezuelan Chavismo-Madurismo, the discredit of the Nicaraguan dictatorship could not be deeper. It burned its ships long ago with the vast majority of the population; now it confirms that its paranoia is uncontrollable, extravagant and cartoonish. Priests “armed” with rosaries, besieged in their homes by police with rifles and pistols, constitute the most illustrative image of the degradation into which Daniel Ortega, once the leader of a triumphant revolution against the Somoza dynasty, has fallen.
The current version of Sandinismo, of course, quickly learned to generate its own forms of sustainability. Through a form of state corporatism, without business associations capable of defending the institutions and with a clumsy and fragmented political opposition, the dictatorship only had to silence the critical press to finish weaving its network of control. Added to the above, the Venezuelan oil rush remained at its peak for long enough to consolidate a framework of relations that journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, now an inspector of the regime, called in his day “the largest acts of corruption in Central America” (now surpassed by other neighbors).
How far will this crazy, new-fangled absolutist experiment go? No one can predict, although it is clear that it will end badly. Nicaraguan citizens are frightened, the opposition has gone into exile, and Western leaders are divided on the appropriate actions to take. Will someone whisper to the international community that the option of a multinational intervention alliance is urgent? Or will tyrants like Ortega and Maduro be allowed to continue destroying the lives of millions of people with impunity? We will see what happens in 2025.
Translated by Translating Cuba.