Nicaragua’s Conjugal Dictatorship
Condemnation isn’t enough; diplomatic pressure is urgently needed and decided support for those fighting for the country’s freedom.
HAVANA TIMES – The recent partial reform to Nicaragua’s Constitution that was unanimously approved on January 30th by the Sandinista-controlled National Assembly has just sealed the permanence in power of the presidential couple composed of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. It also formalizes the position of co-president, extends the current leaders’ mandate from five to six years, eliminates the separation of powers, and consolidates the Sandinista caudillo’s domination over the Army and Police.
Further, the new Constitutional text includes articles that formalize the repression, via the creation of the Patriotic Military Reserve Forces and the Voluntary Police to “guarantee stability, security and peace.” According to the regime’s opponents, these would make up the regime’s para-police and paramilitary forces to quash dissent.
The reform introduces restrictions on religious organizations, particularly the already heavily punished Catholic Church, by prohibiting activities that – according to the regime – threaten the public order. At the same time, it empowers the government to maintain surveillance of the press.
It’s worth noting that the list of victims persecuted by the Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega and his spouse is enormous, because their regime won’t accept the most minimal trace of dissent. Among them are the Sandinista Comandantes and militants who refused to betray the revolutionary ideals; opposition leaders; religious figures and prelates of the Catholic Church; journalists; and in general any citizen who defends democratic principles.
Among the critics of this Constitutional reform is the Organization of American States which issued a harsh statement affirming that the text of the reform is “illegitimate in form and content”; “constitutes nothing more than an aberrant means of formalizing the matrimonial dictatorship in the Central American country; and is a definitive assault on the Democratic Rule of Law.”
For their part, the United Nations Group of Human Rights Experts affirmed that with the recent modifications to the Nicaragua Carta Magna, the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship has consolidated their absolute control over the judicial, legislative and electoral powers. It’s a series of grotesque changes that amount to a death sentence for the Rule of Law and the fundamental freedoms in Nicaragua.
The Constitution of a country isn’t only a set of legal norms; it’s the reflection of the social contract that defines the scope and limits of political power. Under the Ortega regime, the Constitutional document has been reduced to a mere instrument of authoritarian legitimacy because it alters its spirit, replacing democratic principles with mechanisms for absolute control.
The international community has already been paralyzed for too long while the dictatorial Nicaraguan regime accelerates its authoritarian direction. If any real progress is to be made, it’s not enough to just issue condemnations. Diplomatic pressure is urgently needed, and decisive support for those fighting for the country’s freedom. The dark days that Nicaragua is living through must be left in the past.
*Editorial published in Spanish in the Argentinian newspaper “La Nacion” and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.