Nicaragua’s Dictator Just Proved There Was Never A Plan To Give Power Back

It’s official: Freedom in Nicaragua is dead and buried — and dictator Daniel Ortega just poured concrete over the grave.

Ortega, Nicaragua’s aging socialist president and tyrannical leader, dropped a massive bomb on his oppressed nation on Sunday when he declared that elections are officially a thing of the past. Speaking to a forced crowd of terrified state workers, the 80-year-old strongman declared that the ballot box is permanently closed for business.

“There will be no more elections here,” Ortega barked, claiming he needs to build a legal “wall” to keep opposition “traitors” and “coup plotters” from ever taking power again.

Translation: the megalomaniac and his sinister wife, “Co-President” Rosario Murillo, are locking down a full-blown family dictatorship, and they don’t give a damn who knows it.

For those tracking Ortega’s reign of terror, the shocking announcement is just the bloody cherry on top of a multi-decade horror show.

The leftist despot first grabbed power in 1979 after helping topple the brutal Somoza family dictatorship. But instead of delivering liberty, Ortega merely swapped one set of chains for another. His Sandinista regime quickly plunged the Central American nation into a decade of Marxist misery, hyperinflation, and a devastating civil war against US-backed Contra rebels that left tens of thousands dead.

After voters kicked him to the curb in 1990, Ortega played the long game. He schemed his way back into the presidency in 2007 through shady political pacts, and he’s been squeezing the life out of the country ever since.

When brave citizens took to the streets in 2018 to demand an end to his iron grip, Ortega unleashed hell. His police squads and masked paramilitaries slaughtered over 350 peaceful protesters, wounded thousands, and dragged dissidents off to secret torture dens.

Ask the family of 73-year-old indigenous lawmaker Brooklyn Rivera, who recently perished after spending nearly three years rotting in an Ortega dungeon. Or ask the 50 political prisoners still suffering in his hellhole jails — or the nearly one million desperate Nicaraguans who have fled the country just to stay alive.

Nicaragua’s slide into total tyranny is the tragic latest chapter for a nation plagued by conflict. Ever since throwing off Spanish rule in 1821, the country has been battered by civil wars, foreign interventions, and a series of ruthless strongmen.

For 42 long years, the greedy Somoza dynasty treated the nation like its personal piggy bank. When a devastating earthquake flattened Managua in 1972, Anastasio Somoza famously stole hundreds of millions in international relief funds, sparking the revolution that eventually brought Ortega’s Sandinistas to power.

Ortega has simply recycled Somoza’s playbook. After clawing his way back into office, he wiped out term limits, stacked the courts with stooges, and rigged the 2021 election by literally arresting every single opponent who dared run against him.

He’s shredded the constitution, stolen citizenship from hundreds of exiled critics, and shut down over 5,600 non-profits, universities, and independent media outlets to silence any whisper of truth. The pariah regime has climbed into bed with nations like Russia, China, and Venezuela.

Now, by officially outlawing the vote, Ortega and his power-hungry wife have finally dropped the mask completely.

Democracy is dead in Nicaragua, and a ruthless red dynasty is king of the ashes.