President Daniel Ortega won a fourth consecutive term in the Nicaraguan 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 Cristiana Chamorro who had a higher favorability rating of 53 per cent, compared with 39 per cent for Ortega.
Ms Chamorro is the daughter of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, who defeated Ortega in the 1990 presidential elections.
Ortega has been 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. Most of the other leaders of the Sandinista revolution have turned opponents to Ortega’s family regime.
The US, European Union 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 Venezuela's Bolivarian revolution and Nicaragua's Sandinista revolution began with lofty socialistic ideals. Both have now betrayed these ideals and given a bad name to socialism and revolution, besides ruining the two countries.
The author is an expert in Latin American affairs
