Elections in Nicaragua have become an international event provoking a heated confrontation between the democracies of the United States and the European Union, which vote fraudulently and mockingly, and of non-aligned countries such as Russia and Venezuela, which praise Daniel Ortega and define foreign intervention. As unacceptable. As widely expected, Ortega will have his fifth presidential term, with 74.99% of the vote and in power until 2027, with the rest divided between four anonymous candidates. The victory that the Santinista leader created with his wife and vice-president Rosario Murillo by eliminating all key enemies who were in prison or under house arrest. Of these, at least seven are presidential candidates.
The wave of repression also destroyed the former Sandinista president who fought for Ortega to oust Anastasio Somosa. Journalists and entrepreneurs have also been jailed under the new law, which carries a five-year prison sentence for causing economic damage to the country or endangering public peace. So, from someone who was declared a national hero for defeating the worst dictator, 40 years later he himself became the dictatorial leader he fought for. At the risk of projecting itself – this is what Washington fears – is a model dictatorial example for the whole of Latin America. Aside from the fact that his victory threatens to deal another blow to Joe Biden, it creates a new exodus of citizens near the border between Mexico and the United States. The number of Nicaraguans detained along the Southeastern U.S. border is already high, with more than 80,000 living as refugees in Costa Rica.
US sanctions and threats from the White House to launch the “Renacer” Act, which aims to promote economic and diplomatic pressure to restore democracy in Nicaragua, have been in vain. Moreover, Ortega did not have to account to anyone in the election round: the spectators lined up at the polling stations came from the ranks of the Communist Parties of Spain, Argentina and Chile. Cuba’s allies Venezuela and Bolivia (the first to be greeted by former President Evo Morales) as well as Russia, whose ambitions are known in Latin America. On the other side of the fence, Joseph Borel, the High Representative for Foreign Policy, accused the leader of establishing a “terrorist regime.” Their arguments seem futile, and for now the posters celebrating Santinista flags and Ortega life partners “Buen Copierno” in Managua have faded.
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