Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega announced that the country would no longer hold elections. He has been in power since 2007 after previously leading the country in the 1980s.
“There won’t be any more elections here for them to try to seize the government and seize power,” he said in a speech Sunday evening. “The days when parties backed by the Yankees (United States) and the Somocistas would return to power are over – never again.”
The State Department condemned Ortega’s statement.
“Daniel Ortega’s declaration that under his family’s dictatorship Nicaragua will never again hold elections lays bare their true authoritarian nature. Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have abandoned even the pretense of popular consent,” the State Department said. “The Nicaraguan people have the right to choose their own leaders through democratic elections. The United States calls on the international community to join forces to demonstrate to the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship that it cannot expect to maintain business as usual with other nations when it is thwarting the basic tenets of our democratic hemisphere.”
Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) reacted to Ortega’s declaration in a statement on X. She wrote, “When a communist dictator knows the people would vote him out, he takes away their vote. Repression, fear, and force become the only way to stay in power.”
“The Ortega-Murillo regime has declared war on the Nicaraguan people’s right to choose their own future,” she said. “The United States must stand unequivocally with the people of Nicaragua, increase the pressure on this despicable regime, and ensure that those responsible for its crimes are held accountable.”
“After Cuba, Nicaragua is next.”
