Legislators greenlight reforms giving extra authority to Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, accused of stifling dissent.
Legislators in Nicaragua have authorised a constitutional modification that may strengthen the ability of longtime President Daniel Ortega, who has been accused of cracking down on critics and political challengers.
The reforms, which 79-year-old Ortega despatched to Congress this week “as a matter of urgency”, have been authorised unanimously on Friday by 91 lawmakers.
The modifications elevate Ortega’s spouse and vp, Rosario Murillo, to the put up of “co-president”. Additionally they enhance the presidential time period within the Central American nation from 5 to 6 years and lengthen the manager’s management over the media.
In line with the Nicaraguan Structure, reforms should be authorised in a second legislative interval, on this case in 2025, earlier than they develop into efficient.
Rights teams and worldwide observers slammed the vote as a “sham” and accused the Sandinista chief of stifling dissent by making an attempt to legalise the “absolute energy” Ortega and his spouse already wield within the nation.
“The reform not solely displays the paranoia and insecurity of the Sandinista dictatorship, but additionally codifies a system that has no precise precedent in Latin America, dangerously resembling the North Korean mannequin,” wrote exiled opposition chief, Felix Maradiaga, within the on-line media outlet Divergentes.
“These modifications replicate a determined try to defend the Ortega-Murillo household from any eventuality,” he added.
A long time in energy
Ortega first served as president from 1985 to 1990, returning to energy in 2007.
He secured a fourth consecutive term as president in 2021 after an election marketing campaign that was marked by a months-long crackdown on dissent and the arrests of dozens of opposition figures, together with a number of presidential hopefuls.
Ortega’s authorities has shut down more than 5,000 NGOs since mass protests broke out towards his rule in 2018. About 300 people died within the unrest, in keeping with the United Nations.
In the meantime, 1000’s of Nicaraguans have fled into exile — usually to neighbouring Costa Rica — and the US and European Union have imposed a series of sanctions towards Ortega’s administration.
“Nicaragua is being stripped of its mental capital and important voices,” a UN panel warned final yr.
Friday’s constitutional modification stipulates that “traitors to the homeland” will be stripped of their citizenship – one thing Ortega has already done with a whole lot of politicians, journalists, intellectuals and activists perceived as vital of his authorities.
It additionally provides the co-presidents the ability to coordinate all “legislative, judicial, electoral, management and supervisory our bodies, regional and municipal”.
The Group of American States, a regional physique, has slammed the reforms as “a definitive assault on the democratic rule of regulation”.
“Via these modifications to the elemental regulation, Ortega and his allies search to extend their absolute management of the State and perpetuate themselves in energy,” the group stated in a statement on Wednesday.
