Daniel Ortega, the guerrilla entrenched in power in Nicaragua

Daniel Ortega, that guerrilla with thick glasses who fought the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza, is, decades later, entrenched in power in Nicaragua, although it costs him to be compared with the character that he himself helped to overthrow.

In power since 2007, at almost 76 years old, he will compete for a fourth consecutive term on Sunday, and he seems to have a clear path for it: his main rivals are detained on charges of “undermining the sovereignty of the country”, created by his own government.

Although his mandates have been marked by macroeconomic stability and modernization of the road network, he was elected again in 2011 and 2016 amid interpretations that eliminated the impediment of immediate reelection, imprisoning opponents and repressing all protests and criticism.

This has earned him sanctions from Washington and the international community, while his critics believe that the Ortega government is taken over by his family, starting with his wife and running mate, Rosario Murillo.

They “are risking their lives, because without political power they cannot survive,” Ortega’s adopted daughter, Zoilamérica, revealed from exile, who in 1998 denounced him for sexual abuse, which led to the break with her mother.

From guerrilla to power

Born on November 11, 1945 in the mining town of La Libertad (center) in the bosom of a humble and Catholic family, of his three brothers survives Humberto, former army chief who, estranged from him, lives in Costa Rica.

Altar boy and with a priestly vocation, he dropped out of law school to enlist in the guerrilla Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), today the ruling party.

Then skinny and with a mustache that he still has, he was one of the executioners of his own torturer during the Somoza dictatorship (1937-1979) and served seven years in prison for robbing a bank to finance the guerrillas, according to journalist Fabián Medina, author of Prisoner 198, a profile of Ortega.

Later exchanged for Somoza hostages, Ortega trained in Cuba and returned to Nicaragua, with intermittent exiles until the overthrow of Anastasio Somoza.

Commander Ortega was a member of a governing board and was later elected president, for the first time, in 1984.

For Medina, power came to Ortega for three reasons: from the age of 15 he was a young man encouraged to change society “through violence”; He “survived in that attempt” unlike most of his comrades in arms; and “his calm and dim personality was key when a head of state had to be chosen in the midst of a struggle of guerrilla egos.”

In 1990, Ortega lost the election to Violeta Barrios de Chamorro. And he did not rest until he returned to power.

Rosario, the singing voice

Since 2017 he has accompanied him in the vice presidency Rosario Murillo, 70, exclusive and daily spokesperson for the government.

Their romance began during the exile in Caracas. Before, Ortega read Rosario’s poems in prison, in newspapers that entered clandestinely. They conceived seven children together, who were joined by another three from previous engagements.

The couple leads the FSLN with a firm hand and maintains control of all state institutions. Murillo also raises a speech tinged with religion.

“Ortega found in Murillo what he lacked. And Murillo found the vehicle he needed in Ortega, ”Medina says in his book.

Become what he fought

Ortega’s leadership is praised by his followers, especially for the programs to combat poverty that he undertook during his early years with the help of Venezuela. “In the history of the Nicaraguan people there has not been a better government than that of Commander Daniel,” according to the president of Congress, the Sandinista Gustavo Porras.

In 2018, the Ortega administration faced protests that were harshly repressed, with a balance of more than 300 deaths, more than a hundred detainees and thousands of exiles, according to human rights organizations.

Ortega attributed the revolt to a failed coup d’état supported by Washington and that, according to him, tried to be replicated this year by some 40 opponents whom he also arrested, which earned him more international sanctions.

“They think that with sanctions they are going to break down … Nicaragua has gone through more difficult times,” said Ortega, alluding to the “Contras” financed by the United States to overthrow it in the 1980s.

For Moisés Hassan, Ortega’s ex-comrade, the president “has no allies left,” since even leaders like the Uruguayan José Mujica or progressive governments like those of Argentina or Mexico have criticized the detention of opponents.

For the writer Medina, “Ortega ended up becoming a character equal to or worse than the one he helped defeat, Anastasio Somoza.”