The head of American diplomacy Marco Rubio denounced on Tuesday the “true authoritarian nature” of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, after his refusal on Sunday to organize elections.
Former Marxist guerrilla and leader of a revolution against a US-backed autocrat, Daniel Ortega, now 80 years old, has been in power since the 2007 elections, contested by the international community.
He rejected any possibility of holding elections on Sunday, saying he wanted to prevent the opposition in exile from coming to power.
“Daniel Ortega’s statement that, under his family’s dictatorship, Nicaragua will never hold elections, reveals its true authoritarian nature,” the US Secretary of State accused in his statement on Tuesday.
“Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo (his wife and co-president of the country) have abandoned even the semblance of popular consent,” said Marco Rubio, while legislative elections in Nicaragua were initially due to be held in 2027.
Opposition movements in exile hope that international pressure can allow a transition or the holding of elections.
Marco Rubio called on the international community to “join forces to show the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship that it cannot be expected to maintain business as usual relations with other nations.”
Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, rule Nicaragua with an iron fist, particularly since the repression of protests in 2018, which caused the deaths of more than 300 people according to the UN.
