By Dean Tan ’18, News Editor

On November 6, incumbent President Daniel Ortega was re-elected as President of Nicaragua. Ortega ran alongside his wife and incumbent vice president, Rosario Murillo, representing the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) party. In a landslide victory, Ortega received over 72% of the popular vote, defeating Maximo Rodriguez of the Constitutionalist Liberal Party, who received 15% of the vote. President Ortega’s re-election marks his third consecutive term as president; having served since 2007, this is his fourth term overall.

A former Marxist guerrilla, Ortega has been involved in politics since joining the FSLN at the age of 15. Ortega helped orchestrate the Sandinista revolution and the overthrow of President Anastasio Somoza in 1979. As one of the members of the Junta of National Reconstruction, Ortega led the FSLN party through its social reform programs in the 1980s, which included the redistribution of 5 million acres of land, forced conscription for men aged 17 to 35, and a massive literary and healthcare campaign. Throughout this period, the Sandinistas waged a guerrilla war with the US-backed Contras; the war is noted for numerous human rights violations on both sides, including kidnappings, torture, and “disappearances” of much of the rural population.

In the 1984 general elections, Ortega won the presidency representing the Sandinista front in what was considered to be the first free election in Nicaragua for over half a century. However, he received numerous allegations of corruption during his first term. Ortega unsuccessfully campaigned for the presidency in 1990, 1996, and 2001; during this time, his political ideology shifted from strict Marxism towards democratic socialism.

In 2006, Ortega won the elections and has been serving as president since then. During his time in office, Ortega has made numerous reforms to Nicaragua’s government and economy. Under Ortega’s  rule, Nicaragua has seen its poverty levels drop and its economy improve as a result of the numerous social programs; however, Nicaragua remains one of the poorest countries in Latin America. Additionally, in 2014, Ortega pressured the National Assembly to abolish limits on the number of 5-year terms the president is allowed to run for, enabling him to return as president in the 2016 elections.

Though popular at first, the Ortegas are losing support from the Nicaraguan people, many of whom are dissatisfied with the lack of significant social reform. Furthermore, Ortega will be faced with diminishing financial support from Venezuela, one of Nicaragua’s key allies and trading partners, as they too face economic difficulty due to their decreasing oil reserves.

The United States, having historically backed the right-wing Contras against the Marxist and socialist Sandinista government, expressed concern over the re-election of Daniel Ortega and called into question the legitimacy of the electoral process. This sentiment has been voiced by numerous opposition groups in Nicaragua, who claim that the government has sidelined opposition candidates and limited local monitoring at polls. A significant number of Nicaraguans are claimed to have boycotted the elections in protest, contrary to the government’s 66% official turnout estimate.

With Ortega’s re-election, and the election of his wife as Vice President, many are concerned with the idea of an Ortega political dynasty. By the end of his term, Ortega will have governed for nearly 25 years; his consolidation of power and the continued dominance of the FSLN could cement the Ortega family control over Nicaragua for the next several years. Señor Romay expressed his concern with the Ortegas retaining power in Nicaragua: “The Latin American patriot Simón Bolívar, in his famous Carta de Jamaica, established that the problem with people governing for long periods of time is that two things will happen: first, the people will get used to being governed by those in power, and the second, that those in power will get used to being obeyed. There’s an expression, ‘Politicians and clothes should be changed regularly.’”  

In Newark Academy and the United States at large, Latin and South American politics are often overlooked in favor of more pressing discussion on immigration and border policy. Lance Tan ‘17 shared: “I personally am not very familiar with the politics in Nicaragua, but in Spanish classes we spend a lot of time looking at the histories and politics of different Latin American countries.” Chris Pyo ‘17 expressed concern over Nicaragua’s future, commenting “I agree that Ortega has done a pretty good job in helping Niacaragua’s economy grow, but I also hope for the sake of Nicaragua, Ortega’s history of corruption does not continue to play a major role in his political ideologies.” This sense of uncertainty and expectation of political change is shared by many in the US as well regarding the recent elections. It is important for the NA community to have a global perspective and be aware of social change around the world, reflecting on both our political system and those internationally.