Daniel Ortega

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“	The Nicaraguan people have won, with their blood, the right to be here today, in this way breaking with a historic past of servility towards imperialist policy. For the first time in their entire history the Nicaraguan people can officially express their sovereign will, joining this movement of the nonaligned barely forty-one days after their triumph.	„
	~ Daniel Ortega

José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (November 11, 1945) is a Nicaraguan politician serving as President of Nicaragua since 2007; previously he was leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as Coordinator of the Junta of National Reconstruction (1979–1985) and then as President (1985–1990).

A leader in the Sandinista National Liberation Front, he implemented policies to achieve leftist reforms across Nicaragua. In later years, Ortega's previously far left politics moderated more and more, pursuing pro-business policies and even rapprochement with the Catholic Church, with the adoption of strong anti-abortion policies by his government in the 2000s, and adoption of strong religious rhetoric by the previously atheist Ortega. He is married to Rosario Murillo.

Biography

Born into a working-class family, from an early age Ortega opposed Nicaragua's dictator, Anastasio Somoza Deybale, and became involved in the underground movement against his government. Joining the Sandinistas as a student in 1963, Ortega became involved with urban resistance activities and was arrested and imprisoned in 1967. 

a young Ortega

Ortega, like many political prisoners of the Somoza regime, was tortured and abused in jail. Upon release in 1974, he was exiled to Cuba, where he received training in guerrilla warfare from Fidel Castro's Marxist–Leninist government.

Ortega played a crucial role in forming the Insurrectionist faction, which united the FSLN and sparked the mass uprisings of 1978–1979, culminating in the Nicaraguan Revolution. After the overthrow and exile of Somoza's government, Ortega became leader of the ruling multi-partisan Junta of National Reconstruction. In 1984, Ortega won Nicaragua's disputed presidential election with over 60% of the vote as the FSLN's candidate. A Marxist–Leninist, Ortega pursued a program of nationalization, land reform, wealth redistribution and literacy programs during his first period in office.

Ortega's relationship with the United States was never very cordial, as the US had long supported the Somoza Family's dictatorship. Although the US initially supplied the ruined post-revolution Nicaragua with economic aid, relations quickly soured. His government was beset by violent opposition from US-backed rebels (known as the Contras). This illegal intervention continued (albeit covertly) after Ortega's democratic election as president in 1984.

Peace talks between five Central American heads of state in July 1987 led to the signing of the Central American Peace Accords, and the beginning of a roadmap to the end of the conflict. In 1988, the Contras first entered into peace talks with the Sandinista government, although the violence continued, as did their US support. Despite US opposition, disarmament of the Contras began in 1989. The US continued the economic embargo, promising to lift it only if the Sandinistas were ousted in the election, providing financial support to the opposition candidate, and promising aid to Nicaragua should she be elected.

After a difficult presidency marred by war and economic collapse, Ortega was defeated in the 1990 general election by widow Violeta Chamorro. He continued to be an important figure in Nicaraguan opposition politics. Ortega was an unsuccessful candidate for president in 1996 and 2001, but he won the 2006 presidential election. In office, he made alliances with fellow Latin American socialists, such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Under Ortega's leadership, Nicaragua joined the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.

In 1998, Daniel Ortega's adopted stepdaughter Zoilamérica Ortega Murillo released a 48-page report describing how, she alleged, Ortega had systematically sexually abused her from 1979, when she was 12, until 1990 when the harassment turned into phone calls from Ortega who would go so far as to masturbate in some of them. Ortega, his wife Murillo and their other children denied the allegations, as did many Sandinistas who believe it is politically motivated. The case could not proceed in Nicaraguan courts, which have been consistently allied with Ortega, because Ortega had immunity from prosecution as a member of parliament, and the five-year statute of limitations for sexual abuse and rape charges was judged to have been exceeded.There is also the case of Elvia Junieth who was also abused.

Narváez took a complaint to the Inter American Human Rights Commission, which was ruled admissible on October 15, 2001. On March 4, 2002 the Nicaraguan government accepted the Commission's recommendation of a friendly settlement. Ortega continued to deny the allegations and Narváez withdrew the accusations in 2008, though she later renewed her complaints shortly after. Following the 2016 election, Narváez continued to make the accusations saying that she had become an outcast of her family.

Return to Presidency

During the 2006 presidential campaign, Ortega effectively managed to improve his popular acceptance by raising a pacifist and supportive message, with abundant references to God, love, reconciliation and peace. He also with a series of innovative elements in terms of political communication, such as: the use of bright colors, pink, yellow and light blue; a Spanish version of the song "Give Peace a Chance" by John Lennon, titled "Trabajo y Paz". The change that the FSLN has experienced these days can be attributed to a strategy designed to obtain the vote of those sectors of Nicaraguan society that are most disenchanted towards the center of the political spectrum,Ortega won the majority of the votes succeeding the president Enrique Bolaños who was a fierce critic of Ortega, criticizing his ties with radical leftists such as Muammar Gaddafi,Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez .

In June 2016, Ortega announced that international observation would not be allowed to monitor the elections, declaring that "observation is over." The Carter Center described this measure as "an attack on the international community, and a violation of Nicaragua's own electoral law", since said law requires the presence of international observers in the elections.16 However, less than two weeks before of the elections, the Organization of American States (OAS) accepted an invitation to send a delegation "to meet with experts and state agencies involved in the electoral process" from November 5 to 7.

His second administration has become increasingly antidemocratic, alienating many of his former revolutionary allies. In June 2018, Amnesty International and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States reported that Ortega had engaged in a violent oppression campaign against protesters in response to anti-Ortega protests since April 2018. Government officials and government-owned media denied responsibility for such actions.

File:Alvaro Conrado.jpg

Alvaro Conrado (15) before death

In April 2018, after the reform of the Nicaraguan Social Security Institute (INSS), an episode of popular protests by "self-summoned citizens" began. On the 18th in the León region, elderly people were attacked and journalists and "self-summoned citizens" were beaten and robbed without the police intervening. On the part of the opposition to the government, these violent groups were identified as groups of the Sandinista Youth and shock forces, while the official version indicated that they were groups paid by the "right" (referring to the opposition) that had caused public disorder. . Massive marches against the government continued to take place, one of them was the march towards the Polytechnic University (UPOLI) on April 23.

During the protests and the violent acts that surrounded them, as well as the actions of the forces of public order and uncontrolled groups, between 450 and 535 people died and 1,300 people disappeared, according to data from the Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights (ANPDH) 48 Organizations such as the OAS and the IACHR have repeatedly condemned the Ortega government for "brutal" repression and actions against freedom of expression; the latter estimated a figure of 212 deaths.

Trivia

• Unlike other autocrats, Ortega does not allow opponents to stand for election, competing with less-than-competent candidates.
• The current president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, refused to invite him to his presidential inauguration, just as he did not invite Nicolas Maduro and Miguel Díaz-Canel, with these two he verbally fought for ethical reasons.
• Ortega suffers from claustrophobia.