Nicaragua – Consolidating Dictatorship
Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega has alarmed the global community as he has moved to imprison potential rivals in advance of the lead up to the country’s November presidential election. Ortega has all but ensured his own victory by arresting five opposition pre-candidates, as well as civil society and private sector leaders, and even dissident members of his own Sandinista Party. Members of the Organization of American States (OAS), the UN Human Rights Council, and non-governmental organizations such as Human Rights Watch have strongly condemned the regime’s actions and the assault on the basic democratic rights of Nicaraguan citizens. Ortega, a leader of the 1979 revolution, came back to power in 2007. Since then, he has moved to silence the press, opposition politicians, independent organizations, and even his own former comrades in arms.
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