> > > > https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/04/opinion/daniel-ortega-nicaragua-election.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage > > Daniel Ortega and the Crushing of the Nicaraguan Dream > July 4, 2021 > [image: The Spanish word for “assassin” seen painted across a mural in > Managua, Nicaragua, of President Daniel Ortega in 2018.] > The Spanish word for “assassin” seen painted across a mural in Managua, > Nicaragua, of President Daniel Ortega in 2018.Esteban Felix/Associated > Press > > By Gioconda Belli > > Ms. Belli is a Nicaraguan poet and writer and the former president of PEN > Nicaragua. > > Will they come for me? What will it be like to be jailed by the same > people I fought alongside to topple the 45-year Somoza dictatorship in > Nicaragua, my country? > > I joined the clandestine urban resistance of the Sandinista National > Liberation Front, known as the FSLN, in 1970. I was 20. The long and bloody > struggle to get rid of Anastasio Somoza Debayle is now a bittersweet memory > of pride. I was once part of a brave young generation willing to die for > freedom. Of the 10 “compañeros” who were in my clandestine cell, only two > of us survived. On July 20, 1979, three days after Mr. Somoza was forced > out by a popular insurrection, I walked into his office bunker on a hill > overlooking Managua, filled with the empowering feeling that the impossible > had been made possible. > > None of those illusions survive today. It is clear to me, looking back, > that Nicaragua paid too high a cost for that revolution. Its young > leadership became too enamored of itself; it thought we could defy the odds > and create a socialist utopia. > > Thousands died to topple that dictator, and many more lost their lives in > the Contra war that followed. Now, the man once chosen to represent our > hope for change, Daniel Ortega, has become another tyrant. Along with his > eccentric wife, Rosario Murillo, they rule Nicaragua with an iron fist. > > As the November elections approach, the couple seem possessed by the fear > of losing power. They lash out and imprison whoever they think might stand > in their way. In the past month, they have jailed five presidential > candidates > <https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/21/americas/nicaragua-fifth-candidate-detained-intl/index.html>and > arrested many others, including iconic revolutionary figures who were once > their allies. Last month they even came for my brother > <https://apnews.com/article/caribbean-nicaragua-arrests-d392c9f6ce7877ab72b7bae8adbe4d2a>. > To avoid capture, he left Nicaragua. He wasn’t paranoid: Just a few days > later, on June 17, over two dozen armed police officers raided his house > looking for him. His wife was alone. They searched every corner and left > after five hours. The next night several masked men armed with knives and a > rifle robbed his house. One of them was heard to say it was a “second > operation.” Another threatened to kill his wife and rape my niece who had > arrived to spend the night with her mother. Mr. Ortega and Ms. Murillo > appear to be using the crudest form of terror to intimidate their political > opponents. > > I never admired Mr. Ortega personally. To me, he always seemed like a > duplicitous, mediocre man, but his street smarts allowed him to outwit many > of his companions. He was the head of the first Sandinista government in > 1979 and president from 1984 to 1990. Losing the election to Violeta > Chamorro in 1990 scarred Mr. Ortega’s psyche. Returning to power became his > sole ambition. After the electoral defeat many of us wanted to modernize > the Sandinista movement. Mr. Ortega would have none of it. He viewed our > attempts to democratize the party as a threat to his control. He accused > those who disagreed with him of selling our souls to the United States, and > he surrounded himself with sycophants. His wife sided with him > <https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/31/world/americas/nicaragua-daniel-ortega-rosario-murillo-house-of-cards.html> > even after her daughter accused Mr. Ortega, her stepfather, of sexually > abusing her from the age of 11, a scandal that might have ended another > politician’s career. > > In fact, Ms. Murillo, who has been characterized as a tropical Lady > Macbeth, cleverly reshaped his image after he ran in two more elections and > lost. Her New Age ideas appeared in symbols of peace and love and banners > painted with psychedelic colors. Rather conveniently, Mr. Ortega and his > wife metamorphosed into devout Catholics after decades of revolutionary > atheism. To further win over the Catholic Church, Mr. Ortega’s nemesis in > the ’80s, he agreed to back a complete ban on abortion. He had also signed > a pact <http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1874287,00.html> > in 1999 with President Arnoldo Alemán, who would later be found guilty of > corruption, to stack government posts with equal shares of loyalists. In > exchange, Alemán’s Liberal Party agreed to lower the percentage of votes > needed to win the presidency. > > It worked. In 2006, Mr. Ortega won with only 38 percent of the vote. No > sooner did he take office than he set about dismantling already weak state > institutions. He obtained the support of the private sector by giving it a > say in economic decisions in exchange for acquiescence to his politics. He > trampled on the Constitution, which expressly forbade re-election, to allow > for indefinite re-elections. Then, in his run for his third term in 2016, > he chose his wife to be vice president. > > Mr. Ortega and Ms. Murillo seemed securely in power until April 2018 > <https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/26/world/americas/nicaragua-uprising-protesters.html>, > when a small demonstration against a reform that would have lowered social > security pensions was violently repressed by Sandinista thugs. The entire > country was swept by peaceful protests. Mr. Ortega and Ms. Murillo reacted > with fury and crushed the revolt with firepower: 328 people were killed, > 2,000 were wounded, and 100,000 went into exile, according to the > Inter-American > Commission on Human Rights > <http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/docs/annual/2018/docs/IA2018cap.4B.NI-en.pdf>. > Armed paramilitaries roamed the streets in a killing spree, and hospitals > were ordered to deny assistance to wounded protesters. Doctors who > disobeyed were fired. The regime imposed a de facto state of emergency and > suspended constitutional rights. Public demonstrations of any sort were > banned. Our cities were militarized. Mr. Ortega and Ms. Murillo justified > their actions by fabricating a big lie: The uprising was a coup planned and > financed by the United States. > > Nicaragua’s next elections are scheduled for Nov. 7. In late spring, the > two major opposition groups agreed to choose one candidate under the > umbrella of the Citizens Alliance. Cristiana Chamorro, daughter of former > President Chamorro, had strong showings in the polls. Soon after she > announced her intent to run for president she was placed under house > arrest. The government appears to have fabricated a case of money > laundering in its deluded notion that this would legitimize her detention. > More arrests followed: four more presidential candidates, > <https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/21/americas/nicaragua-fifth-candidate-detained-intl/index.html>journalists, > a banker, a private sector representative, two accountants who worked for > Cristiana Chamorro’s foundation and even her brother, all of them accused > under new and conveniently ambiguous laws that essentially make any > opposition to the ruling couple a treasonous crime. Mr. Ortega insisted > <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-24/nicaragua-s-ortega-defends-arrests-blasts-u-s-in-speech?sref=B3uFyqJT> > that all the detainees are part of a vast U.S.-sponsored conspiracy to > overthrow him. > > Nicaraguans now find ourselves with no recourse, no law, no police to > protect us. Habeas corpus has been replaced by a law that allows the state > to imprison people who are under investigation for up to 90 days. Most of > the prisoners have not been allowed to see their lawyers or members of > their families. We are not even sure where they are > <https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/06/15/nicaragua-arrests-ortega-opponents-candidates/> > being held. Every night, too many Nicaraguans go to bed afraid that their > doors will be the next that the police will break down. > > I am a poet, a writer. I am an outspoken critic of Mr. Ortega. I tweet, I > give interviews. Under Mr. Somoza, I was tried for treason. I had to go > into exile. Will I now face jail or exile again? > > Who will they come for next? > > Gioconda Belli is a Nicaraguan poet and novelist. She is the former > president of the Nicaraguan PEN center. > >
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