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URGENT: Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega has explicitly ruled out any possibility of democratic alternation in the country by stating that his regime will not allow electoral processes in which the opposition has a chance of winning
Nicaragua has been governed since 2007 by Ortega, an 80-year-old former Sandinista guerrilla, amid allegations of electoral fraud or the elimination of opposition forces to prevent competition. Since 2017, he has shared power with his wife, Rosario Murillo.
He announced that his government will work with Parliament "and with the organizations responsible for the laws so that they put up a wall, a barrier, against the coup plotters, the sellouts, and that no matter how much money the Yankees (United States) give them, they will not succeed."
In mid-February 2025, Nicaragua enacted a constitutional reform that eliminated the balance of powers and granted total authority to Ortega and Murillo. The reform has been strongly criticized by the United Nations, the Organization of American States (OAS), the United States, the European Parliament, and Nicaraguan opposition groups. The reform extended the presidential term from five to six years, established the figure of "co-president," made the government "coordinate" the other "organs" of the State, which are no longer referred to as branches of power, and legalized statelessness.
In January, the U.S. State Department accused Murillo of creating the position of "co-president" in Nicaragua without elections, without a mandate, and without legitimacy, "because she knows she cannot win" in a free electoral process.Source 🖇
