DOCSLIB.ORG

The Ortega Government (2006–)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Ortega Government (2006–) chapter 10 The Ortega Government (2006–) Daniel Ortega took office on 10 January 2007, and it was obvious that this term would be dramatically different from his 1985–90 presidency.1 Most surpris- ingly, it became apparent early on that he planned to be a co-president, sharing power with his wife Rosario Murillo. Traditionally in Latin America, the first lady functioned as the figurehead of the ministry in charge of women’s and children’s affairs, but this was different. Rosario Murillo would not simply be an ornament or even the head of a department; she would govern. She would rule. As one analyst wrote at the time: ‘Rosario Murillo is much more than just First Lady. She exercises real decision-making executive power and veto power. In practice, she’s functioning more like the head of government, with her hus- band acting like a head of state’.2 Murillo became government spokesperson, taking charge of publicity and communications for all ministries as well as of the President’s agenda, trips, and meetings with the media. She also handled the coordination of the social ministries – health, education, and culture – as well as the national, depart- mental, and local organisations of the ‘direct democracy’ councils; and the government’s public ethics office and its departmental and regional secretari- ats. Her pet project, the Council on Communication and Citizenry, grew rapidly in resources, personnel, and importance. Many Nicaraguans considered her the real power behind the throne.3 The arrangement was very reminiscent of Ana- stasio Somoza García and his wife Salvador DeBayle: ‘Nicaragua was very much a family business. The high command of the Somoza dictatorship was always Tacho and Salvadora’.4 But there had not been a Latin American presidency such as this since Juan and Eva Perón had ruled Argentina. 1 Throughout this chapter I have relied a great deal on Envío, the monthly magazine published at the Jesuit University of Central America (uca) in Managua since 1981 (see: http://www .envio.org.ni/quienes_somos.en). Envío publishes news, analysis, and many original articles by Nicaraguans from a wide spectrum of opinion. It is by far the best single source on contem- porary Nicaragua. I should note that since 2006 Envío, though a non-partisan publication, has generally been critical of the Ortega administration. While initially to the left of the Sandinista government on many issues, over the years it has become more moderate. 2 Guevara Jerez 2007. 3 Debussman 2005. 4 Diederich 2007, p. 25. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2016 | doi: 10.1163/9789004291317_012 318 chapter 10 Criticised for nepotism for allowing his wife to exercise these governmental functions, Ortega replied: ‘They don’t love Rosario. They say terrible things about her every day. And I say to them: don’t forget, we said we’d put 50% men and 50% women in government … And now in the presidency I’m complying: 50% Rosario and 50% Daniel’. His critics, he said, were machista and had no respect for women.5 In truth, though, Murillo’s governmental role was uncon- stitutional. She had not stood for public office and no one had elected her, and yet she functioned as a co-president – some said she was more powerful than Daniel – and would continue in that role for two presidential terms. The first fsln government of 1979 had been led by a National Directorate made up of revolutionary leaders; now the party was led by the president and his wife and a small circle of trusted advisors. Who was this woman who came to exercise such power in Nicaragua? Murillo was born in Managua on 22 June 1951 to a prosperous family. Her parents sent her for her primary education to Switzerland and then to high school in England. When she returned at the age of 15 to spend the vacation with her family, she became pregnant with the child of her sweetheart Jorge Naváez. Though she told her parents that she was not in love with him, they forced the pair to marry, and she gave birth to her daughter Zoilamérica in 1967. Murillo soon fled the husband, the daughter, and the marriage and went again to Switzerland to study art for a year and then returned to Managua where she studied languages. In the early 1970s, she became the secretary of Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, the Conservative Party leader and publisher of La Prensa until his assassination in 1978. Later she also worked with Pablo Antonio Cuadra, another important conservative political leader. During this period, she began to write and publish poetry and to consider herself a poet.6 Already in 1969 she had joined the Sandinistas and carried on clandestine work until 1977 when, fearing arrest, she went to Costa Rica to continue her political work from there. She had met Daniel Ortega in Managua shortly after he had been released from prison, but it was while on a trip to Venezuela for the fsln in 1978 that she once again saw Ortega, they established their relationship and began to live together. Married in a secret civil ceremony in Costa Rica in 1979, together they had six children. Daniel Ortega also adopted his wife’s daughter Zoilamérica, the step-daughter who later accused him of having sexually molested her throughout her adolescence.7 Throughout her 5 Nitlápan Envío Team 2007a. 6 ‘Rosario Murillo: La mujer más poderosa de Nicaragua’ 2008. 7 Laguna 2007..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Declaration by the Heads of States and Governments of Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Dominican R
    DECLARATION BY THE HEADS OF STATES AND GOVERNMENTS OF BELIZE, COSTA RICA, GUATEMALA, HONDURAS, NICARAGUA, PANAMA AND DOMINICAN REPUBLIC FACING THE PANDEMIC OF COVID-19 CENTRO AMERICA ALLIED AGAINST CORONA VIRUS 12th, March, 2020 The Heads of States and Governments of Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Dominican Republic having a extraordinary virtual session under the pro tempore Presidency of SICA, with Honduras in the charge. Considering That the World Health Organization, with globally alarming levels of spread and severity of cases by COVID-19, has declared this disease to be a pandemic. This implies the necessity of regional agreements on containment against its spread for the safety of our inhabitants. The Resolution COMISCA 01-2020 adopted during the Extraordinary Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Health of Central America and the Dominican Republic (COMISCA), held on 3rd of March, 2020, relative to the situation of threats of COVID-19, and the regional reaction in public health against the pandemic, where joint actions are established. That faced of the threats of COVID-19, the General Secretariat of SICA and the Executive Secretariat of COMISCA have made efforts to establish regional, intersectoral approach in response to the pandemic DECLARE 1. The importance given by the Governments of the member states of SICA for the tutelage and protection of the human security, public health and common good for population in th e region, mainly in view of the expansion of COVID-19, which requires adopting joint meas ures and coordination to face it. 2. To the nations of the region, that our national health systems attend to the pandemic acco rding to the protocols guided by the World Health Organization / Pan American Health Org anization (WHO / PAHO), taking national measures through the Ministries and Secretaries of Health, including binational and cross-border collaboration of health services for compre hensive care of suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19 and other public health probl ems.
    [Show full text]
  • A Nicaraguan Exceptionalism? Debating the Legacy of the Sandinista Revolution
    A Nicaraguan Exceptionalism? Debating the Legacy of the Sandinista Revolution edited by Hilary Francis INSTITUTE OF LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES A Nicaraguan Exceptionalism? Debating the Legacy of the Sandinista Revolution edited by Hilary Francis Institute of Latin American Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, 2020 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. More information regarding CC licenses is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/. This book is also available online at http://humanities-digital-library.org. ISBN: 978-1-908857-57-6 (paperback edition) 978-1-908857-78-1 (.epub edition) 978-1-908857-79-8 (.mobi edition) 978-1-908857-77-4 (PDF edition) DOI: 10.14296/220.9781908857774 (PDF edition) Institute of Latin American Studies School of Advanced Study University of London Senate House London WC1E 7HU Telephone: 020 7862 8844 Email: [email protected] Web: http://ilas.sas.ac.uk Typesetting by Thomas Bohm, User Design, Illustration and Typesetting. Cover image © Franklin Villavicencio. Contents List of illustrations v Notes on contributors vii Introduction: exceptionalism and agency in Nicaragua’s revolutionary heritage 1 Hilary Francis 1. ‘We didn’t want to be like Somoza’s Guardia’: policing, crime and Nicaraguan exceptionalism 21 Robert Sierakowski 2. ‘The revolution was so many things’ 45 Fernanda Soto 3. Nicaraguan food policy: between self-sufficiency and dependency 61 Christiane Berth 4. On Sandinista ideas of past connections to the Soviet Union and Nicaraguan exceptionalism 87 Johannes Wilm 5.
    [Show full text]
  • Nicaragua | Freedom House
    Nicaragua | Freedom House https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2019/nicaragua A. ELECTORAL PROCESS: 3 / 12 A1. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 1 / 4 The constitution provides for a directly elected president, and elections are held every five years. Constitutional reforms in 2014 eliminated term limits and required the winner of the presidential ballot to secure a simple plurality of votes. President Ortega was reelected in 2016 with over 72 percent of the vote in a severely flawed election that was preceded by the Supreme Court’s move to expel the main opposition candidate, Eduardo Montealegre, from his Independent Liberal Party (PLI). The decision crippled the PLI, and Montealegre withdrew from the election. Ortega’s closest competitor, Maximino Rodríguez of the Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC), received just 15 percent of the vote, with no other candidate reaching 5 percent. Ortega’s wife, Rosario Murillo, ran as Ortega’s vice presidential candidate. Ortega’s Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) won 135 of 153 mayorships contested in 2017 municipal elections. There were reports ahead of the polls that the FSLN had ignored local primary surveys in order to put its preferred candidates up for election. Seven people were killed in postelection clashes between government and opposition supporters, according to the Nicaraguan Center of Human Rights (CENIDH). A2. Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 1 / 4 The constitution provides for a 92-member unicameral National Assembly. Two seats in the legislature are reserved for the previous president and the runner-up in the most recent presidential election.
    [Show full text]
  • Nicaragua: Revolution and Restoration
    THE NEW GEOPOLITICS NOVEMBER 2018 LATIN AMERICA NICARAGUA: REVOLUTION AND RESTORATION RICHARD E. FEINBERG NICARAGUA: REVOLUTION AND RESTORATION RICHARD E. FEINBERG EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Since independence, Nicaragua has suffered periodic internecine warfare, deep distrust between contending factions dominated by powerful caudillos (strongmen), and interventions by foreign powers. While the United States was frequently a party to these conflicts, local Nicaraguan actors often outmaneuvered U.S. diplomats. At the end of the Cold War, internationally supervised elections yielded an interlude of relatively liberal democracy and alternation of power (1990-2006). To the consternation of the United States, Sandinista Party leader Daniel Ortega regained the presidency in 2007, and orchestrated a successful strategy of coalition-building with the organized private sector and the Catholic Church. Supported by the international financial institutions and the Venezuelan Chavista government, Nicaragua achieved strong economic performance with moderately inclusive growth. President Ortega used those economic resources to gradually capture or suppress—one by one—many of the nation’s political institutions, eroding institutional checks and balances. Ortega’s strategy of co-opting all centers of power extended to the military and national police. The restoration of traditional caudillo politics and the fusion of family-state-party-security forces were all too reminiscent of the Somoza family dynasty (1934-1979). Frustrated by Ortega’s narrowing of democratic
    [Show full text]
  • UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara Rosas Sin Pan: The
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara Rosas Sin Pan: The Cultural Strategies of the Sandinista Devolution A Thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Sociology by Cristina Awadalla Committee in charge: Professor Denise Segura Chair Professor Jon Cruz Professor Kum-Kum Bhavnani June 2019 The thesis of Cristina Awadalla is approved. ___________________________________________________________ Kum-Kum Bhavnani ___________________________________________________________ Jon Cruz ___________________________________________________________ Denise Segura, Committee Chair April 2019 Acknowledgements Para mi mama, que me enseñó desde que era pequeña a amar, luchar, y alzar mi voz. A mi hermano mayor que ha estado a mi lado a lo largo de este viaje, alentándome incondicionalmente a confiar en mi trabajo. Para todas las valientes feministas Nicaragüenses, las que me brindaron su tiempo, historias y análisis profundos, las que siguen luchando y que siguen imaginando y creando nuevos mundos a pesar de toda la repression física y idiologica. Sin ellas, este proyecto no se podriá realizar. To my parents who came from different lands, whose endless hours at work have allowed me to dream and go places none of us could have imagined. To all my friends and family who support, motivate, and inspire me—thank you for letting me talk your ears off, engaging me and showing interest in my work. I would also like to thank the department of Sociology at UC, Santa Barbara, for the training and support provided to me that has helped me realize this work. Thank you to Denise Segura who has shown me what it is to be a bold woman of color in academia, who was the first here to show me my potential, giving me the support to cultivate it, and has provided endless feedback on an ever-evolving project.
    [Show full text]
  • Independent Final Evaluation of Combating the Worst Forst of Chils
    This page intentionally left blank. Independent Final Evaluation of Combating the Worst Forms of Child Labor through Education in Nicaragua, ENTERATE USDOL Cooperative Agreement IL-17759-08-75-K 2011 This page intentionally left blank. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The evaluation of the ENTERATE Project in Nicaragua was conducted and documented by Michele González Arroyo, an independent evaluator in collaboration with USDOL/OCFT staff; the ENTERATE project team; and stakeholders in Nicaragua. ICF would like to express sincere thanks to all parties involved in this evaluation: the independent evaluator, the American Institutes of Research and its partners, and USDOL. Funding for this evaluation was provided by the United States Department of Labor under Task Order number DOLJ089K28130. Points of view or opinions in this evaluation report do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does the mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the United States Government. ~Page iii~ This page intentionally left blank. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF ACRONYMS vii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ix I PROJECT BACKGROUND AND DESCRIPTION 1 1.1 USDOL’s Education Initiative Projects 1 1.2 Target Population 1 1.3 Project Strategies and Activities 2 II EVALUATION PURPOSE AND METHODOLOGY 5 2.1 Evaluation Purpose 5 2.2 Methodology 5 III RELEVANCE 11 3.1 Findings 11 3.2 Lessons Learned/Good Practices: Relevance 20 IV EFFECTIVENESS 23 4.1 Findings 23 4.2 Lessons Learned/Good Practices:
    [Show full text]
  • Culture and Arts in Post Revolutionary Nicaragua: the Chamorro Years (1990-1996)
    Culture and Arts in Post Revolutionary Nicaragua: The Chamorro Years (1990-1996) A thesis presented to the faculty of the Center for International Studies of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Tatiana Argüello Vargas August 2010 © 2010 Tatiana Argüello Vargas. All Rights Reserved. 2 This thesis titled Culture and Arts in Post Revolutionary Nicaragua: The Chamorro Years (1990-1996) by TATIANA ARGÜELLO VARGAS has been approved for the Center for International Studies by Patrick Barr-Melej Associate Professor of History José A. Delgado Director, Latin American Studies Daniel Weiner Executive Director, Center for International Studies 3 ABSTRACT ARGÜELLO VARGAS, TATIANA, M.A., August 2010, Latin American Studies Culture and Arts in Post Revolutionary Nicaragua: The Chamorro Years (1990-1996) (100 pp.) Director of Thesis: Patrick Barr-Melej This thesis explores the role of culture in post-revolutionary Nicaragua during the administration of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1996). In particular, this research analyzes the negotiation and redefinition of culture between Nicaragua’s revolutionary past and its neoliberal present. In order to expose what aspects of the cultural project survived and what new manifestations appear, this thesis examines the followings elements: 1) the cultural policy and institutional apparatus created by the government of President Chamorro; 2) the effects and consequences that this cultural policy produced in the country through the battle between revolutionary and post-revolutionary cultural symbols in Managua as a urban space; and 3), the role and evolution of Managua’s mayor and future president Arnoldo Alemán as an important actor redefining culture in the 1990s.
    [Show full text]
  • Stepdaughter Charges Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega with Sexual Abuse LADB Staff
    University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository NotiCen Latin America Digital Beat (LADB) 3-19-1998 Stepdaughter Charges Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega with Sexual Abuse LADB Staff Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/noticen Recommended Citation LADB Staff. "Stepdaughter Charges Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega with Sexual Abuse." (1998). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ noticen/8397 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Latin America Digital Beat (LADB) at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in NotiCen by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LADB Article Id: 54819 ISSN: 1089-1560 Stepdaughter Charges Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega with Sexual Abuse by LADB Staff Category/Department: Nicaragua Published: 1998-03-19 Explosive allegations against Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega have rocked the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN) just weeks before the party convention. In the aftermath, the FSLN is taking drastic measures to forge a united front and purge itself of dissidents. Former Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega (1979-1990) called on supporters to unite following accusations by his stepdaughter that he had sexually molested her. In early March, Zoilamerica Narvaez Murillo, 30, faxed a letter to the media charging that Ortega started molesting her when she was 11 and continued "in a repeated manner, for many years." She also said she was the victim of aggression, threats, and blackmail. Ortega, 53, neither confirmed nor denied the allegations and said he was "saddened" by them. His wife, Rosario Murillo, who is Narvaez's mother, said the charges were lies.
    [Show full text]
  • Sembrando El Terror
    INSTILLING TERROR: FROM LETHAL FORCE TO PERSECUTION IN NICARAGUA Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 7 million people who campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all. Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. We are independente of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion and are funded mainly by our membership and public donations. © Amnesty International 2018 Cover and back cover photo: Except where otherwise noted, content in this document is licensed /GODGTUQHVJG0CVKQPCN2QNKEGCTOGFYKVJ#-TKƃGUCPFC&TCIWPQXUPKRGTTKƃGKP/CUC[C,WN[ under a Creative Commons (attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives, 1UYCNFQ4KXCU international 4.0) licence.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc- nd/4.0/legalcode For more information please visit the permissions page on our website: www.amnesty.org Where material is attributed to a copyright owner other than Amnesty International this material is not subject to the Creative Commons licence. First published in 2018 by Amnesty International Ltd. Peter Benenson House, 1 Easton Street. London WC1X 0DW, UK Index: AMR 43/9213/2018 Original language: Spanish amnesty.org 1 CONTENTS INSTILLING TERROR: FROM LETHAL FORCE TO PERSECUTION IN NICARAGUA 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 2. METHODOLOGY 6 3. TIMELINE OF KEY EVENTS 8 4. ESCALATION OF THE STRATEGY OF REPRESSION 11 4.1 AN OFFICIAL DISCOURSE OF DENIAL AND CRIMINALIZATION 11 4.2 WIDESPREAD USE OF PRO-GOVERNMENT ARMED GROUPS 13 4.3 EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE AND EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS 17 4.3.1 ANALYSIS OF THE CONTEXT OF OPERATION CLEAN-UP 18 4.3.2 POSSIBLE EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS 21 4.3.3 FAILURE TO INVESTIGATE POSSIBLE EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS 30 A.
    [Show full text]
  • Countries at the Crossroads 2012: Nicaragua
    Countries at the Crossroads COUNTRIES AT THE CROSSROADS 2012: NICARAGUA INTRODUCTION Nicaragua’s November 2011 elections marked a major step forward in President Daniel Ortega’s consolidation of power, and a served as a stark demonstration of the authoritarian tendencies he has exhibited since his return to office in early 2007. A onetime guerrilla leader and the head of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) during the1979–1990 Sandinista revolution, Ortega has ruled Nicaragua with increasing disrespect for the constitution, electoral integrity, and the rule of law. In order to run again, he engineered a questionable ruling from the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) to eviscerate a constitutional ban on successive terms for sitting presidents, as well as a limitation to two total terms of office.1 Ortega then secured 62 percent of the popular vote, although irregularities were widespread enough to cast doubt on the size of his victory margin. The disputed election also gave his party, the FSLN, 63 of 92 seats in the National Assembly, a majority large enough to pass ordinary legislation, change the constitution, and even call a constitutional assembly. Armed with this supermajority, Ortega is now in a position to govern in the temperamental manner of his ideological brethren in the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) headed by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, who has provided him an economic lifeline since 2007. During his first term as president (1984–1990), Ortega presided over the drafting of a constitution in 1987 that reflected the quasi-socialist character of the revolution, which was marked by wealth redistribution and widespread confiscations of private property.
    [Show full text]
  • El Nuevo Sandinismo De Daniel Ortega En Nicaragua: ¿Qué Ocurrirá Con El Gran Canal Interoceánico?
    El nuevo sandinismo de Daniel Ortega en Nicaragua: ¿Qué ocurrirá con el Gran Canal Interoceánico? Por Carmen Grau Vila1 “Los nicaragüenses no les pedirán nada, pero no pueden impedirme que yo lo haga por ellos, y que lo haga por admiración y por amor frente a su coraje y a la lección histórica que están dando a nuestra amarga, sufriente América Latina”. Julio Cortázar, 19842 Probablemente el escritor argentino que en sus visitas al país centroamericano plasmó admirado los esfuerzos de la revolución sandinista, lamentaría hoy el giro autoritario del sandinismo del siglo XXI. Nicaragua celebró el pasado 6 de noviembre unas elecciones presidenciales rodeadas de polémica y bajo un régimen, el de Daniel Ortega, que ya toma diversas calificaciones. Medios periodísticos hablan de dictadura dinástica o clan de los Ortega, los académicos lo definen como autoritarismo popular o caudillismo. Por unos días Nicaragua fue noticia global, sin embargo poco después, las elecciones de EE.UU. ensombrecían de nuevo la situación política del país centroamericano. La Nicaragua sandinista de este siglo se autoproclama “cristiana, socialista y solidaria” y en carteles que recorren el país apela a un pueblo que triunfa unido, “El Pueblo Presidente”. Estas proclamas oficiales del gobierno de Daniel Ortega y por extensión de la compañera Rosario Murillo, quienes siempre encabezan los carteles de colores estridentes, son un aviso más del carácter personalista del régimen Ortega en la Nicaragua actual. Una Nicaragua que además está inmersa, desde 2013, en la proyección de un Gran Canal Interoceánico, unas obras que todavía aguardan para iniciar pero que han creado unas expectativas en un pueblo cuyo imaginario e historia no puede desligarse del canal.
    [Show full text]
  • President Daniel Ortega Wins Third Consecutive Term in Nicaragua Benjamin Witte-Lebhar
    University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository NotiCen Latin America Digital Beat (LADB) 11-17-2016 President Daniel Ortega Wins Third Consecutive Term in Nicaragua Benjamin Witte-Lebhar Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/noticen Recommended Citation Witte-Lebhar, Benjamin. "President Daniel Ortega Wins Third Consecutive Term in Nicaragua." (2016). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/noticen/10391 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Latin America Digital Beat (LADB) at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in NotiCen by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LADB Article Id: 80147 ISSN: 1089-1560 President Daniel Ortega Wins Third Consecutive Term in Nicaragua by Benjamin Witte-Lebhar Category/Department: Nicaragua Published: 2016-11-17 Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and the governing Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) cruised to victory in national elections that were as polemical as they were predictable. Against a field of five lesser known candidates, the long-serving leader and one-time Marxist revolutionary easily won his bid for reelection, drawing more than 72% of the votes cast Nov. 6, according to the Consejo Supremo Electoral (CSE), the country’s top electoral authority. Ortega’s closest challenger, former contra fighter Maximino Rodríguez of the conservative Partido Liberal Constitucionalista (Liberal Constitutionalist Party, PLC), received 15% of the vote. The other four candidates drew just 12% of the vote between them. The results give Ortega, 71, a third consecutive five-year presidential term and fourth overall, not including his tenure as head of the country’s post-revolutionary junta government (1979-1985).
    [Show full text]