LIVE: Daniel Ortega assumes his fifth term in Nicaragua sanctioned and isolated from the West

The President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, assumes this Monday his fourth consecutive term together with his wife Rosario Murillo as vice president, amid new sanctions and pressure from the United States and the European Union, but with the support of China and Russia.

Ortega, 76, will be sworn in before the ruling-majority parliament at a ceremony in the Plaza de la Revolución, in the old center of Managua. The event will be broadcast on the national television network.

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The inauguration of the former Sandinista guerrilla will have as a backdrop the sanctions applied in the last three years by the United States and the European Union to family members, relatives, officials and some entities such as the Police and the Prosecutor’s Office, for corruption and violation of human rights.

Washington and Brussels also considered that the November 7 elections, in which Ortega was re-elected with the main opponents imprisoned or in exile, were not “democratic”.

This Monday, the United States and the EU announced new sanctions against senior officials, including two sons of Ortega and Murillo and three state entities, on the same day that the Sandinista leader inaugurates his new presidential term.

Several Latin American countries through the Organization of American States (OAS) have also ignored the legitimacy of the elections and demanded the release of the imprisoned opponents.

The actions of the international community have been described by the Sandinista ruler as “aggressions” against his country.

He has also accused the United States and the EU of “interference” and “disrespect for sovereignty,” and last November asked to initiate a process to withdraw the country from the OAS.

Russia and China

Manuel Orozco, analyst and member of the Inter-American Dialogue, told AFP that Ortega and Murillo inaugurate their mandate “not without challenges” due to international pressure, citizen discontent, a seriously deteriorated socioeconomic situation and strong dissent between their government base and the Sandinista elite.

Ortega tries to balance those challenges by approaching Russia and China, but without making internal political changes, preserving the repressive apparatus and keeping political prisoners as a transaction card, Orozco pointed out.

In this context, Ortega resumed diplomatic relations with China on December 9, after undoing the ties that the country maintained for more than 30 years with Taiwan and recognizing the principle of “one China.”

The reestablishment of relations with Beijing was accompanied by a donation of thousands of vaccines and, three weeks later, the opening of the Asian country’s embassy in Managua.

He also strengthened his ties with Moscow, which has provided him with extensive cooperation, from wheat, anticovid vaccines and buses to renew collective transport to a satellite station.

Nicaraguan citizens exiled in Costa Rica participate in a demonstration in front of the Nicaraguan embassy in Costa Rica to oppose the inauguration of President Daniel Ortega, in San José. (Photo: Ezequiel BECERRA / AFP). (EZEQUIEL BECERRA /)

The guests at the ceremony

The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, is the first head of state to arrive in Managua for the inauguration ceremony, scheduled for the end of the afternoon.

Murillo announced that the ceremony will be attended by several foreign ministers, including those from Bolivia, Mexico, Palestine and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Chinese President Xi Jinping appointed Cao Jianming, vice president of the Standing Committee of the Asian giant’s National People’s Congress, as a special envoy.

The presence of delegates from Russia, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela, Honduras, Belize, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Angola, Turkey, Belarus, Turkey, Egypt, Malaysia and Yemen was confirmed.

Human rights activists, including Bianca Jagger, criticized Mexico’s presence.

“That Russia, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Belarus, Iran and even China endorse the farce of #Ortega the tyrant of #Nicaragua? It does not surprise me, but that the President of #Mexico @lopezobrador_ endorses the crimes against humanity of a criminal dynasty, it is surprising and repulsive, ”Jagger tweeted.

Although Murillo said that the Mexican foreign minister would be among the attendees, the Mexican president, Manuel López Obrador, in his press conference, said that he will not send any delegation and will be represented by a charge d’affaires.

The new mandate and the prisoners

The release of some 160 imprisoned opponents will weigh on the decisions Ortega makes at the beginning of his fourth term, according to Orozco and the Sandinista poet and dissident, Gioconda Belli.

More than 40 opponents, journalists and critics of the government were detained between June and December 2021, including seven potential rivals of Ortega in the November elections.

This group is joined by another 120 people who are imprisoned for participating in the 2018 protests, whose repression left 355 dead and more than 100,000 exiles, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

The government considers the detainees to be “criminals” who organized for a coup with the help of the United States.

Orozco estimates that “it will be difficult (for the government) not to open up” to the demands of the international community to free the opponents, while Belli believes that “it would be an important gesture nationally and internationally”, although “I doubt it will.”

The former Sandinista guerrilla ruled the country for the first time in the 1980s after helping the FSLN overthrow dictator Anastasio Somoza with a revolution in 1979.

Since he returned to power 15 years ago, the opposition has accused him of “nepotism” and of establishing a “dictatorship.”

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