Ortega Saavedra, Daniel
[key], 1945–, president of Nicaragua (1979–90,
2007–). As a university student, he joined (1963) the clandestine
Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN; see Sandinistas), a Marxist guerrilla
coalition that opposed the Somoza dictatorship. In 1967, he was
arrested and spent seven years in prison. Head of the Sandinista junta that
took power following the 1979 revolution, he was elected president in 1984.
As president, he attempted to consolidate the revolution along Marxist lines
but was opposed by the United States and U.S.-backed guerrillas, the
contras. He was unexpectedly defeated for reelection (1990) by Violetta
Barrios de Chamorro, who
led a coalition of opposition parties. Ortega subsequently twice lost in
presidential elections, in 1996 to Arnoldo Alemán Lacayo and in 2001
to Enrique Bolaños, but in 2006 he again won the presidency, against
a divided center-right opposition. His second government was marked by the
use of government spending, street violence, judicial chicanery, and
extraconstitutional presidential decrees in an attempt to expand the
Sandinistas' hold on political power. He was reelected in 2011, again
against a divided opposition. In 2018 his rule was challenged by recurring
antigovernment protests, that were ultimately crushed in clashes
increasingly marked by violence. Ortega's government cracked down on his
political opponents, and no serious opposition candidates were allowed to
run in the 2021 presidential elections. Ortega was easily reelected to
serve a fourth term, despite widespread criticism from outside observers
that the elections were unfair.
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