Nicaraguan Corruption Stacey Lipson, ’24

Nicaraguan Corruption

Stacey Lipson, ’24

Daniel Ortega has been the president of Nicaragua since 1984 alongside his wife, Vice President Rosaria Murillo. Their leadership has restricted any new citizens from holding or attempting to hold a position of power in public office and has allowed them to keep their reign of terror for so long by limiting any opposition that could arise.1 Ortegas’ new reforms and regimes have turned him into the very leader he formerly fought to conquer and has increased the violence in Nicaragua by unconscionable amounts.

Before Ortega, Nicaragua suffered through another period of totalitarian rule by Anastasio Somoza. The Somoza family was the most powerful Nicaraguan dynasty and had been ruling Nicaragua since 1937. In 1967, Somoza was elected president and led with the intent of creating strong workers, disregarding the importance of education entirely.2 He repealed the term limit law stating that immediate reelection was not allowed but ultimately lost. When a devastating earthquake struck, Somoza was re-elected in 1967 to help Nicaragua recover from its losses. However, his reign did the opposite. Three-quarters of the entire population had no literacy skills and hunger and malnutrition almost doubled.3 The Sandinista National Liberation Front, a socialist political party, saw the Three-quarters of the entire damage Somoza population had no literacy was doing to skills and hunger and the country and revolted against malnutrition almost doubled. his government in the 1970s. This revolt enacted extreme social change and ultimately overthrew the Somoza dynasty for good. Daniel Ortega was an active member of this revolutionary group and condemned the dictatorial rulings and unfair treatment of the people. Though he did a lot of good for the country, after he left the Sandinistas and rose to power, his liberal views and stance completely changed.4

When Ortega was elected president in 1984, he focused on helping the impoverished citizens of his community, however, after 7 years, he was defeated by Violeta Chamorro. He continued dedicating his time to the less fortunate and this strategic election campaign helped him win again in 2006. However, once in office, none of his promises to help the poor were carried through. Since his return to power in 2006, Ortega has completely repositioned his platform and is determined to do anything possible to stay in power. He now aligns himself with the Catholic Church and has banned abortions completely, accepted the Superior Council for Private Enterprises as an ally, and has implemented violent tactics to prevent migrants from traveling to the US. These new reforms have wiped the country of Nicaragua of any democratic freedoms that may have been in place and have left the community stripped of basic human rights.5 The marginalized sectors, mainly university students, felt they were being overlooked and were unhappy with authoritarianism and decided to revolt in 2018 against Ortega and his government. A widespread protest broke out that insisted Ortega resign instead of running for his fourth consecutive term. Ortega’s new government had suppressed freedom of speech and the protest was forcefully shut down, killing over 300 people in the process.6 Yet, Ortega did not care that so many of his citizens were being killed and encouraged the police to continue using violence and any means necessary to stop resistance from breaking out again. Now, it is almost impossible to oppose Ortega without fear of being brutally murdered or unfairly reprimanded, leading to no new defiance against Ortega and allowing him to continue his rule.7

While Daniel Ortega continues to rule, Nicaraguan citizens become increasingly unhappy with his repression of free speech, unfair wealth redistribution, revoking public funding of universities, and much more, and flee to find more constitutional and free societies.8 Though people are scared to publicly challenge Ortega, it is possible that there will be a breaking point and an inescapable ending will come for him, forcing him to finally resign as president of Nicaragua.

1 Ommen, Eline. “Nicaragua: former revolutionary Daniel Ortega now resembles the dictator he helped overthrow.” The Conversation, 5 November 2021, https://theconversation.com/ nicaragua-former-revolutionary-daniel-ortega-now-resembles-the-dictator-he-helped-overthrow-171235. Accessed 6 April 2022. 2 “Daniel Ortega: From revolutionary leader to opposition hate figure.” BBC, 10 January 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/ world-latin-america-15544315. Accessed 6 April 2022. 3 “Is Nicaragua’s Descent into Dictatorship Irreversible?” United States Institute of Peace, 15 November 2021, https://www.usip. org/publications/2021/11/nicaraguas-descent-dictatorship-irreversible. Accessed 6 April 2022. 4 Noriega, Roger F. Back by Unpopular Demand: Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega. American Enterprise Institute, 2016, http://www. jstor.org/stable/resrep02977. Accessed 6 Apr. 2022. 5 “Is Nicaragua’s Descent into Dictatorship Irreversible?” 6 “Daniel Ortega: From revolutionary leader to opposition hate figure.” 7 Jarquín, Mateo. “Analysis | Two years after Nicaragua’s mass uprising started, why is Daniel Ortega still in power?” The Washington Post, 1 May 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/ politics/2020/05/01/two-years-after-nicaraguas-mass-uprisingstarted-why-is-daniel-ortega-still-power/. Accessed 6 April 2022. 8 Noriega, Roger F. Back by Unpopular Demand: Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega. American Enterprise Institute, 2016, http://www. jstor.org/stable/resrep02977. Accessed 6 Apr. 2022.