Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and First Lady Rosario Murillo greet supporters during an event commemorating the 36th anniversary of the Sandinista National Liberation Front. AP Photo / Esteban Felix.All rights reserved
Upon reaching political power in 2007, the Ortega/Murillo duo designed a strategy for staying in government for a long period of time. The strategy was based on three pillars: one, purchasing and/or acquiring consciences within State institutions and semi-autonomous bodies - including big business; two, manipulating and making changes in written law and the political constitution of Nicaragua to suit them best; and three, completely destroying political parties that could possibly have been real opponents that in reality never were.
Two State institutions should be mentioned here in particular, both of which were caught in the whirlpool of this strategy: the Army and the Police. A "supreme chief" was imposed on both entities and proceeded to exert his power arrogantly and manipulatively. He offered them opportunities for enrichment, power, and technical training, and asked only one thing in exchange: blind obedience - as blind, in fact, as to lead them to forget the content of and due compliance with their founding charter, which establishes them as non-partisan, non-deliberative institutions, abiding by the Constitution under civilian rule. This political concept became a secondary priority, shunned and veiled both institutionally and in practice.
