Nicaragua's little dictator Daniel Ortega is 80 years old and hadn't been seen in public in months. His wife and "co-president" Rosario Murillo appeared to be handling most of their duties, while working hard to consolidate power and purging old Sandinistas who don't care for her.
Ortega has a history of heart problems and supposedly suffers from lupus, though he's never confirmed that. There are also reports that he suffers from end-stage renal failure and is possibly on dialysis. He supposedly has his own private VIP suite at the National Police’s Carlos Roberto Huembes Hospital, where he receives regular weekly treatments.
But over the weekend, at a Sandinista Revolution 47th anniversary event, a sickly Ortega hobbled onto the stage to show everyone that he's still alive despite rumors claiming the opposite and to rally whatever sort of base he has left in a country that is heavily repressed and oppressed. He didn't look well, but that was overshadowed by what he announced: There will be no more elections in Nicaragua, and he will ensure that opposition parties can't even attempt to hold them.
Daniel Ortega entierra la vía electoral en Nicaragua. Durante el aniversario de la Revolución Sandinista, el mandatario sentencia que "aquí no volverá a haber elecciones" y anuncia reformas para impedir que los partidos lleguen al poder por esa vía, en un paso que opositores… pic.twitter.com/xwAHpePGwZ
— OSCAR MARIO BETETA (@MarioBeteta) July 20, 2026
The message itself is no surprise. We don't call Nicaragua the "North Korea of the Americas: for nothing. This is the regime that, in 2018, when massive protests broke out, killed hundreds of people. In 2021, it jailed opposition candidates, and since then hundreds of citizens who opposed the regime have been stripped of their citizenship and exiled or jailed. The media, various charities, and the church have also been attacked and/or destroyed. This year, the paranoid couple banned Holy Week activities.
No one actually believed there were going to be any elections anyway.
But it was the boldness and open defiance that sent shockwaves around the world. The Ortega-Murillo regime is essentially setting things up so that their family rules Nicaragua forever. Between them they have numerous kids (the exact number is unknown), but they've been placing them in key areas of power, and they appear to be setting one of their sons up to take over when his parents are gone.
The question now is: how will the world respond? The Donald Trump administration has been slapping heavy sanctions on the dictatorship this year, most of which have been tied to the gold sector, but have also included some of the "co-presidents'" sons. The regime has been using the gold mining profits to fund itself and even seized a U.S.-owned property and allowed China to take it over.
And that's a part of the problem with this little Central American country — it has big friends across the globe. China owns so much land in Nicaragua that it could cover the state of Delaware and then some. It's exploiting the country's natural resources, and is heavily entangled in its infrastructure. Meanwhile, Russia has basically turned the country into its own little military base in the Western Hemisphere. Nicaragua is a major threat to our national security.
Marco Rubio spoke out about that on Tuesday, saying, "The Trump Administration and the international community will not stand by as the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship deepens repression at home and manufactures instability that threatens U.S. national security."
The Trump Administration and the international community will not stand by as the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship deepens repression at home and manufactures instability that threatens U.S. national security. Ortega’s pledge to abolish elections in Nicaragua proves his cowardice and…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) July 21, 2026
He's also calling on the international community, especially our partners here in the Western Hemisphere, to step up as well. He released the following press statement on Tuesday:
Daniel Ortega’s declaration that under his family’s dictatorship Nicaragua will never again hold elections lays bare their true authoritarian nature. Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have abandoned even the pretense of popular consent.
The Nicaraguan people have the right to choose their own leaders through democratic elections. The United States calls on the international community to join forces to demonstrate to the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship that it cannot expect to maintain business as usual with other nations when it is thwarting the basic tenets of our democratic hemisphere.
Some members of our Congress are calling for a Nicolás Maduro-style raid. You'll hear a lot of "Nicaragua is next after Venezuela and Cuba" talk in the days to come. It will be interesting to see what happens, but I suspect in the immediate future it will be more pressure and sanctions rather than any sort of military action. I don't think we'll see any real cracks in this situation until Ortega dies, but I'll keep you posted.
🚨Nicaragua is next!
— Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (@RepCarlos) July 21, 2026
The despicable Ortega-Murillo criminal regime is a terrorist gang running a country like a personal farm.
These thugs must be removed from CAFTA-DR for their countless crimes against humanity including now eliminating all elections in the country! 🇳🇮🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/v3h5eLX5mx
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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