According to the legislature, Nicaragua’s Congress approved a constitutional amendment on Thursday that would give strongman Daniel Ortega’s wife the title of “co-president” and all governmental authority.
The amendment was suggested by Ortega, who is under Western sanctions for violating human rights, and it extends the Central American nation’s five-year presidential term to six years.
The co-presidents now have the authority to coordinate all constitutionally independent legislative, judicial, electoral, and supervisory entities.
The National Assembly, which is dominated by Ortega’s ruling FSLN party, declared on social media site X that the change has been “approved in its entirety.”
With the help of his influential wife Rosario Murillo, Ortega, 79, has tightened control over all facets of the state and adopted increasingly dictatorial policies in what detractors refer to as a nepotistic dictatorship.
The former guerrilla took office again in 2007 after originally holding the office from 1985 to 1990. Since then, Nicaragua has imprisoned hundreds of perceived and actual opponents.
Since the 2018 huge protests, during which the UN estimates that over 300 people perished, Ortega’s government has closed more than 5,000 NGOs.
The US and EU have imposed sanctions on the regime, and thousands of Nicaraguans have fled into exile. Nowadays, the majority of opposition and independent media are based overseas.
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