President Daniel Ortega, won a fourth consecutive term in the elections held on Sunday. His wife Vice President Rosario Murillo, will continue as Vice President.
Ortega had prevented opposition candidates from contesting by imprisoning seven would-be presidential candidates including Ms. Chamorro who had higher favorability rating of 53% approval, compared with 39% for Ortega. Ms. Chamorro is the daughter of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, who defeated Mr. Ortega in the 1990 presidential elections.
Ortega is in power continuously since 2007 after removing the constitutional term limit. He was earlier president from 1985-90 and part of the ruling Junta from 1979 to 1984. He and his wife Rosario are running the country like a family dynasty similar to the Somoza dynasty which ruled from 1937 to 1979.
Ortega was part of the glorious Sandinista revolution which overthrew the Somoza dynasty in 1979. He was admired when he accepted the defeat in the 1990 election gracefully and waited for his time till 2007. But since then he has eroded democracy by his authoritarian way of rule. He has promoted his wife and children to positions of power which they use for corruption. Most of the other leaders of the Sandinista revolution have turned as opponents to Ortega’s family regime.
US, Europe and some Latin American countries including Costa Rica have condemned the elections as a fraud. The US has imposed sanctions on Nicaragua and personally against Ortega’s family members. Due to the political oppression and economic difficulties, over 100,000 Nicaraguans have migrated to Costa Rica as refugees and thousands have sought asylum in the US.
Nicaragua has joined Venezuela as another sham democracy in Latin America. Both the Bolivarian revolution of Venezuela and the Sandinista revolution of Nicaragua had started off with lofty socialistic ideals. Both have now betrayed their ideals and given a bad name to socialism and revolution, besides ruining the two countries.
No comments:
Post a Comment