Daniel Ortega

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José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (born November 11, 1945 in La Libertad , Chontales ) is the incumbent President of Nicaragua and chairman of the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN).

Daniel Ortega

In 1979 Ortega and other FSLN members overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle under the military leadership of his brother Humberto ; from July 1979 Ortega ruled Nicaragua as head of a government junta ( Junta de Gobierno de Reconstrucción Nacional ). Ortega was elected President of Nicaragua from 1985 to 1990. After losing elections in 1990, 1996 and 2001, he was re-elected on November 5, 2006 and confirmed in office on November 6, 2011 and November 7, 2016.

Life

Family background

Ortega's father was the teacher Daniel Simeón Ortega Cerda (* 1905 in Los Rincones, Masatepe ; † April 21, 1975), his mother the graphic designer Lidia Albertina Saavedra Rivas (* August 8, 1908 in La Libertad, Chontales, † 2005). His paternal grandfather was the teacher Marco Antononio Ortega, who was a member of the Conservative Party in the 1920s and worked at the Instituto Nacional de Oriente in Granada a . a. the later president and dictator Anastasio Somoza García taught.

In 1934, Ortega's father was arrested and ill-treated by the Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua because of a published letter in which he criticized the circumstances surrounding the murder of Augusto César Sandino and the role of Somoza . He was supposed to be shot but was released at the request of relatives with ties to the Guardia Nacional. In the 1950s he became a sales representative for foreign companies, especially German companies.

Daniel Ortega has been married to the writer and politician Rosario Murillo since 1978 .

Study and underground

Ortega studied law at the Universidad Centroamericana in Managua , but dropped out in 1963 to join the FSLN. He was imprisoned from 1967 to 1974 and was then flown to Cuba . In 1976 he returned to Nicaragua and became one of the "Comandantes" of the FSLN.

Member of the government junta

Daniel Ortega (left)

After the Nicaraguan dictator Somoza was overthrown by the Nicaraguan Revolution on July 19, 1979, Ortega became a member of the five-member government junta , which also included his later opponent Violeta Barrios de Chamorro . The Sandinista succeeded in asserting themselves in the junta and pursued a reform program that was initially popular with the majority of the population and which was also able to win over a broad movement of sympathizers internationally. The aim was a socialist- oriented social order closely based on the Warsaw Pact and Cuba .

A broad-based education campaign among adults led to a significant reduction in the illiteracy rate, and indigenous and rural arts and culture were fostered. Schools were established across the country. The health system has also evolved; Here, too, it was possible to establish hospital wards in the country, which for the first time distributed an at least makeshift hygiene program.

Another domestic political project was the development of women's rights . This program built on the popularity of Sandinista heroines. In Nicaragua, which is thoroughly macho , this was a remarkable process that also contributed to Violeta Chamorro's later electoral success.

Soon there were also acts of revenge by revolutionary troops against functionaries of the Somoza regime and, after border-violating attacks by the indigenous Miskitos at the end of 1981, settlements were partially evacuated and Miskitos arrested quickly; After mediation talks with Amnesty International , the return home was allowed in 1984. However, Amnesty International indicated that no cases of systematic ill-treatment or torture of prisoners could be identified.

First presidency

After a constitutional reform, Ortega was elected president in November 1984 with 63% of the vote. He took office on January 10, 1985. The US and other states did not recognize the result of the elections . Somoza's supporters formed an opposition to the Ortega government. These were supported by the United States in the contra war . With the emerging rumors of a possible US invasion of Nicaragua, there were major expressions of solidarity within left and Christian groups internationally. The second free elections were prepared in 1989 through the mediation of the Central American states . In addition, it was decided to disarm the Contra rebels and Sandinista militias by December 8, 1989.

Opposition years

Ortega and the FSLN lost the presidential election in February 1990 to Violeta de Chamorro and a 14-party anti-Sandinista opposition alliance, the “Unión Nacional Opositora” (“UNO”). The main reason for the defeat of the Sandinista was probably the economic hardship caused by the civil war and the US embargo as well as a generally prevailing war fatigue .

In May 1998, Ortega was accused by his then 30-year-old stepdaughter, Zoilamérica Narváez, of having sexually abused and raped her several times since 1978 . When a criminal court in Nicaragua opened the case, the defense contested its admissibility, as Ortega enjoyed immunity as a MP . The court then stayed the proceedings pending their repeal by Congress, but in December 2000 Ortega voluntarily waived his parliamentary immunity and faced the allegations. However, these could no longer be clarified due to the statute of limitations.

In 1996 and 2001 Ortega ran unsuccessfully as a presidential candidate for the FSLN. In July 2004, Ortega asked for forgiveness for actions taken against the Catholic Church during the Sandinista era. Then, through the mediation of Cardinal Miguel Obando Bravo, the reconciliation between the politician and the Catholic Church came about and the Sandinista supported the legislative proposal of the conservative-liberal government for a total ban on abortions, which was controversial within the party.

Second presidency

In the 2006 presidential election, Ortega won the majority required to be elected president with 38% of the vote in the first ballot . Ortega's candidacy was preceded by violent internal party struggles that led to the establishment of the Movimiento de Renovación Sandinista by Herty Lewites . The fact that Ortega achieved the required majority in the first ballot despite these conflicts is due, among other things, to the split in the conservative camp in Nicaragua. Furthermore, before the election, the right to vote had been changed to the extent that a relative majority of more than 35 percent in the first ballot was enough to get into the office of president.

At that time, international election observers were outraged by the obvious fraud in the capital Managua and important smaller cities. There was a state of emergency in Nicaragua for around two weeks. Angry protesters fought street battles with the police.

Third presidency

According to the constitution, Ortega would not have been allowed to run for the presidential election again in 2011, but due to a controversial court decision, his candidacy was still allowed. He won the election with 62.6% of the vote, although observers complained about irregularities. At the beginning of 2014, the ban on re-election was lifted at his instigation.

After Ortega broke off diplomatic relations with Israel in 2010 after the Ship-to-Gaza incident on the ship Mavi Marmara , on the occasion of a state visit by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in early 2012, he demanded that Israel use nuclear weapons as a means of pacifying the Middle East should abolish and destroy.

Fourth presidency

In preparation for the 2016 presidential election, Ortega had the Supreme Court remove the chairman of the strongest opposition party, the Partido Liberal Independiente (PLI), Luis Roberto Callejas, and had the Supreme Electoral Council almost entirely made up of his supporters. Ortega's reign took on dictatorial features. In Nicaragua it was said that "Ortegism" had replaced Sandinism. His stepdaughter renewed the abuse allegations after long years of silence in an interview published on November 5th.

The election took place on November 6, 2016. According to press reports, Ortega was named the winner of the presidential election by the supreme electoral council on November 7th, after officially recording 72.5 percent of the vote before the final count (followed by the liberal candidate Maximino Rodríguez of the Partido Liberal Constitucionalista ). Ortega's wife, Rosario Murillo , becomes vice-president . The couple's seven children also hold important positions in politics, business and the media in Nicaragua. On January 10, 2017, Ortega was sworn in as head of state for the fourth time at a mass rally in the Plaza de la Revolución in Managua .

Protests against the Ortega government in 2018

In April 2018, Ortega decided to relieve social security by cutting pensions by five percent, which promptly sparked demonstrations in practically every city in the country. The police used live ammunition in suppressing the protests. The students of the state universities, which are considered a domain of the FSLN, also turned against the government. The “People's President” then wanted to negotiate (exclusively) with the country's entrepreneurs, which they refused due to the repression. There were also increasing demonstrations against the president's corrupt family. The regime banned independent television stations from broadcasting during the unrest. The demonstrations lasted for weeks, hundreds of thousands took to the streets in various cities on May 30, and for the first time Ortega raised their concerns when he ruled out his resignation. Amnesty International accused the government of using a “shoot to kill” strategy, that is, consciously accepting the dead.

By mid-June the number of deaths had risen to 180. The Bishops' Conference had proposed early elections as a solution to the crisis and announced that the government had "surprisingly" responded to its proposal for an independent investigation to determine who was responsible for the acts of violence. The bishops broke off the talks, however, because Ortega had not kept the important promise of the invitation to international organizations, for which Foreign Minister Denis Moncada cited "bureaucratic" reasons. When, according to the OAS, 250 people had already been killed, UN Secretary-General Guterres called for an end to the violence for the first time on July 11 and again a week later. The "disappeared" were not included in these numbers of victims, so the number of those killed was plausibly estimated at around 400. As a matter of urgency, the regime pushed through a new law with which, according to the protest note of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights ( UNHCHR ), "peaceful protest can be punished as terrorism".

Honors

In the run-up to his 70th birthday, he was awarded the Russian Order of Friendship in October 2015 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Daniel Ortega  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Amnesty International: Annual Reports 1981 and 1986 - Nicaragua.
  2. ↑ Michael Heuer, Athanasios Melissis: "Free Fatherland or Death". Nicaragua: 25 years of the Sandinista revolution. A search for traces , in: terre des hommes: Die Zeitung , August 2004, p. 3.
  3. ↑ Ralf Dahrendorf: A dwarf scares the giant . In: Die Zeit , No. 12/1986, p. 9.
  4. ↑ Werner Mackenbach: The end of a hope: The sex scandal around Daniel Ortega exacerbates the political and moral crisis of the Frente Sandinista . ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: Kommune. Forum for Politics-Economy-Culture, July 1998, p. 21.
  5. ^ Nicaragua: Invitation for the Pope. Kathpress article on Vatican Radio , July 16, 2007, archived from the original on October 16, 2007 ; accessed on November 8, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Wolf-Dieter Vogel: Legal reform resulting in death: Parliament makes therapeutic abortion a punishable offense . Latin American News, Number 390, December 2006, accessed November 8, 2016.
  7. ↑ Gerold Schmidt: Even Bush congratulates the archenemy: Sandinista boss Daniel Ortega is returning to Nicaragua's presidency after 16 years . In: Neues Deutschland , January 10, 2007; reproduced on the website of the Peace Research Working Group of the Federal Peace Council Committee, accessed on November 8, 2016.
  8. ↑ Sergio Ramírez: The 35 percent mark: Nicaragua on the Way of the Cross. Friday November 3, 2006; accessed on November 8, 2016.
  9. ^ A b Tobias Buyer: President Ortega creates his own jubilee station. Welt Online , August 7, 2011, accessed November 8, 2016.
  10. ↑ Ortega wins controversial election in Nicaragua. ( Memento from February 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) dpa article on Zeit Online , November 7, 2011, accessed on November 8, 2016.
  11. ↑ All power for Daniel Ortega . AP article in the taz , January 31, 2014, p. 10, accessed on November 8, 2016.
  12. ↑ Peter Gaupp: Daniel Ortega and his clan hold on to power in Nicaragua with marked elections. Central America's poorest country has again become an enrichment dictatorship. The methods are of course different today than in the Somoza period . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, June 13, 2016, p. 4.
  13. ^ Volver a la dictadura, un temor real en Nicaragua . November 7, 2016; accessed on January 14, 2019.
  14. ↑ Interview with Daniel Ortega's stepdaughter. Mirror online
  15. ^ Presidential election in Nicaragua: Victory for the Ortega family business . ( Memento from November 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Tagesschau.de , November 7, 2016
  16. ^ Elections in Nicaragua: Fourth term for Ortega - and his clan . Tagesschau.de ; accessed on January 11, 2017.
  17. ↑ Nicaragua has discovered a vaccine for fake news , fusion.tv, May 9, 2018
  18. ↑ a b Why the protests in Nicaragua escalated . In: NZZ , April 23, 2018
  19. ↑ In Nicaragua the circle is complete . In: NZZ , April 24, 2018, p. 13
  20. ↑ Hundreds of thousands demand the resignation of President Ortega . SRF, May 31, 2018
  21. ^ Nicaragua: Shoot To Kill: Nicaragua's Strategy To Repress Protest . Amnesty International , May 29, 2018
  22. ↑ Agreement on Truth Commission . In: NZZ , June 18, 2018
  23. ↑ The mediation of the Church in Nicaragua failed . In: NZZ , June 20, 2018, p. 2
  24. ↑ SRF News, July 12, 2018
  25. ↑ Act now to end violence, Zeid urges Nicaraguan authorities . UN News, July 5, 2018
  26. ↑ 'Everyone is an enemy who's deserving of death, rape and jail': Death squads have returned to Nicaragua . Public Radio International, July 18, 2018
  27. ↑ Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 20.10.2015 № 517 “О награждении государственными нагирайдами нагиарайдами ансер . Russian Government website, accessed November 8, 2016 (Russian): “Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of October 20, 2015, No. 517: 'On Awarding Foreign Citizens with the State Awards of the Russian Federation'”.
predecessor Office successor
Francisco Urcuyo Maliaños President of Nicaragua
January 10, 1985 to April 25, 1990 		Violeta Barrios de Chamorro
Enrique Bolaños Geyer President of Nicaragua
January 10, 2007– 		-
personal data
SURNAME Ortega, Daniel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Daniel Ortega Saavedra
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Nicaraguan politician, President of Nicaragua and Chairman of the Sandinistas
DATE OF BIRTH November 11, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH La Libertad , Chontales