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Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Nicaragua investigates long-time Ortega ally, former Sandinista leader
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Nicaraguan authorities said on Wednesday they were investigating Bayardo Arce, a long-time ally and economic adviser to President Daniel Ortega, and who was also one of the nine Sandinista commanders that governed the Central American nation in the 1980s. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Arce had been the last of the Sandinista generals to back Ortega, who has increasingly been cracking down on dissidents and isolating from global diplomacy. Local media reported Arce had been placed under house arrest, making him the third former military leader to face such treatment under Ortega's administration. Henry Ruiz remains under house arrest, reports say, while Ortega's brother Humberto died last year at home. KEY QUOTE Nicaragua's attorney general's office said the investigation into Arce was regarding "possible irregularities in transactions involving assets, properties and companies that could affect the national patrimony." Arce had been summoned twice, but "has not agreed to present himself properly to this day," the office added in a statement. CONTEXT Ortega now holds a "co-presidency" with his wife, Rosario Murillo. El Pais reported, citing sources, that Murillo had likely ordered the measures against Arce as she viewed the party's long-time cadres as obstacles to consolidating her succession to power. WHAT'S NEXT It is unclear what the alleged irregularities in transactions by Arce would be and how his case would proceed if he were to go in for questioning. His assistant, Ricardo Bonilla, is detained and under questioning by police, the attorney general's office said. THE RESPONSE Murillo did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Arce was not immediately available for comment. REUTERS
Boston Globe
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Today in History: The Seneca Falls Convention
Advertisement In 1848, the first 'Convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of Woman' convened at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, N.Y. In 1969, Apollo 11 and its astronauts —Neil Armstrong, Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin, and Michael Collins —went into orbit around the moon. In 1975, the Apollo and Soyuz space capsules that were linked in orbit for two days separated. In 1979, the Nicaraguan capital of Managua fell to Sandinista guerrillas, two days after President Anastasio Somoza fled the country. In 1980, the Moscow Summer Olympics began, minus dozens of nations that were boycotting the games because of Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan. In 1989, 111 people were killed when United Air Lines Flight 232, a DC-10 which sustained the uncontained failure of its tail engine and the loss of hydraulic systems, crashed while making an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa; 185 other people survived. Advertisement In 1990, baseball's all-time hits leader, Pete Rose, was sentenced in Cincinnati to five months in prison for tax evasion. In 1993, President Bill Clinton announced a policy allowing gays to serve in the military under a compromise dubbed 'don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue.' In 2006, prosecutors reported that Chicago police beat, kicked, shocked, or otherwise tortured scores of Black suspects from the 1970s to the early 1990s to try to extract confessions from them. In 2005, President George W. Bush announced his choice of federal appeals court judge John G. Roberts Jr. to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. (Roberts ended up succeeding Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who died in September 2005; Samuel Alito followed O'Connor.) In 2013, in a rare and public reflection on race, President Barack Obama called on the nation to do some soul searching over the death of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of his shooter, George Zimmerman, saying the slain Black teenager 'could have been me 35 years ago.' In 2018, a duck boat packed with tourists capsized and sank in high winds on a lake in the tourist town of Branson, Missouri, killing 17 people. In 2021, Paul Allard Hodgkins, a Florida man who breached the U.S. Senate chamber on Jan. 6, 2021, carrying a Trump campaign flag, received an eight-month prison term in the first resolution of a felony case arising from the US Capitol insurrection. (In 2025, President Donald Trump pardoned, commuted the prison sentences, or vowed to dismiss the cases of all 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the riot.) Advertisement In 2022, Britain
Chicago Tribune
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Today in History: Chicago police torture report released
Today is Saturday, July 19, the 200th day of 2025. There are 165 days left in the year. Today in History: On July 19, 2006, prosecutors reported that Chicago police beat, kicked, shocked or otherwise tortured scores of Black suspects from the 1970s to the early 1990s to try to extract confessions from them. FBI releases records from its decades-old probe of torture allegations against Chicago police Cmdr. Jon BurgeRead the FBI's records of torture allegations against Jon Burge, dating back to the early 90sAlso on this date: In 1812, during the War of 1812, the First Battle of Sackets Harbor in Lake Ontario resulted in an American victory as U.S. naval forces repelled a British attack. In 1848, the first 'Convention to discuss the social, civil and religious condition and rights of Woman' convened at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, N.Y. In 1969, Apollo 11 and its astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin and Michael Collins, went into orbit around the moon. In 1975, the Apollo and Soyuz space capsules that were linked in orbit for two days separated. In 1979, the Nicaraguan capital of Managua fell to Sandinista guerrillas, two days after President Anastasio Somoza fled the country. In 1980, the Moscow Summer Olympics began, minus dozens of nations that were boycotting the games because of Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan. In 1989, 111 people were killed when United Air Lines Flight 232, a DC-10 which sustained the uncontained failure of its tail engine and the loss of hydraulic systems, crashed while making an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa; 185 other people survived. In 1990, baseball's all-time hits leader, Pete Rose, was sentenced in Cincinnati to five months in prison for tax evasion. In 1993, President Bill Clinton announced a policy allowing gays to serve in the military under a compromise dubbed 'don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue.' In 2005, President George W. Bush announced his choice of federal appeals court judge John G. Roberts Jr. to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. (Roberts ended up succeeding Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who died in Sept. 2005; Samuel Alito followed O'Connor.) In 2013, in a rare and public reflection on race, President Barack Obama called on the nation to do some soul searching over the death of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of his shooter, George Zimmerman, saying the slain Black teenager 'could have been me 35 years ago.' In 2018, a duck boat packed with tourists capsized and sank in high winds on a lake in the tourist town of Branson, Missouri, killing 17 people. In 2021, Paul Allard Hodgkins, a Florida man who breached the U.S. Senate chamber on Jan. 6, 2021, carrying a Trump campaign flag, received an eight-month prison term in the first resolution of a felony case arising from the U.S. Capitol insurrection. (In 2025, President Donald Trump pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the riot.) In 2022, Britain shattered its record for the highest temperature ever registered amid a heat wave that seared swaths of Europe. Today's Birthdays: Civil rights activist and educator Rachel Robinson, widow of baseball's Jackie Robinson, is 103. Blues singer-musician Little Freddie King is 85. Singer-musician Alan Gorrie (Average White Band) is 79. International Tennis Hall of Famer Ilie Nastase is 79. Rock musician Brian May (Queen) is 78. Rock musician Bernie Leadon is 78. Movie director Abel Ferrara is 74. Movie director Atom Egoyan is 65. Actor Campbell Scott is 64. Actor Anthony Edwards is 63. Ukrainian politician and former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko is 54. Actor Benedict Cumberbatch is 49. TV chef Marcela Valladolid is 47. Actor Trai Byers (TV: 'Empire') is 42.
Globe and Mail
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Globe and Mail
Costa Rica is no longer a safe haven for Nicaraguan exiles
Robert Rotberg is the founding director of the Harvard Kennedy School's program on intrastate conflict, president emeritus of the World Peace Foundation, and a former senior fellow at CIGI. Alongside the globe's more horrific despotisms – China, Russia, Cambodia, Equatorial Guinea, Turkmenistan and Zimbabwe, plus the military potentates in Myanmar, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso – Nicaragua often escapes notice. But a killing last month in neighbouring Costa Rica of a prominent Nicaraguan dissident reminds us that the husband/wife team ruling Nicaragua harshly pursues its critics relentlessly – everywhere. Roberto Samcam Ruíz, a former Nicaraguan army major, had been a loyal member of the Sandinista political party before breaking with its cruel married rulers – President Daniel Ortega, 79, and Vice-President Rosario Murillo, 74. His assassination in his home in San José, Costa Rica's capital, is believed by human-rights advocates to be one of many hits orchestrated by the Nicaraguan government in Costa Rica. He was at least the sixth Sandinista dissident shot or abducted since 2018. Since 2007, when Mr. Ortega returned to office after a 17-year absence, the ruling couple have manipulated elections, destroyed judicial independence and made the legislature bow to their authoritarian will. The Sandinistas, including leader Mr. Ortega, overthrew the previous heavy-handed regime, which was controlled by the kleptocratic Somoza family. The Somozas largely ruled with backing from Washington. They accumulated huge sums of cash – 33 per cent of the nation's GDP – while the country remained poor and largely dependent on banana exports to North America. The Sandinistas, on the other hand, were backed by the Soviet Union and Cuba. Hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans fled their country in 2018 and 2019, after Mr. Ortega's regime cracked down on spontaneous protesters. They had repeatedly taken to the streets of Managua in anger at the way Mr. Ortega and Ms. Murillo were betraying the goals of the revolution against the Somozas. Mr. Ortega responded in a draconian manner: He accused opponents of plotting a coup, jailed hundreds, compelled thousands to flee across nearby borders, confiscated the properties of those who left, and cancelled their Nicaraguan citizenship. The President and his wife have gained control of every aspect of Nicaragua's government, including the National Assembly, the Supreme Court, the armed forces, the judiciary, the police and the prosecutor's office. Many Ortega adult children have been given franchises in such lucrative enterprises as national television and the sale of gasoline. The Somozas were corrupt; the current leadership duo and their kin are greater kleptocrats, fleecing what is left of one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere. After the 2018 protests, the Ortega government went on the offensive after changing the social-security system and cutting benefits and increasing contributions, which had caused citizens to erupt. They occupied college campuses and set up roadblocks. Government buildings were set ablaze, cars burned, and protesters and police fought pitched battles. As a result, hundreds were charged as terrorists, a popular television station closed, and international human-rights observers expelled. Nicaraguan police killed 322 civilians and wounded 1,400. More than 60,000 regime opponents fled to Costa Rica and Honduras. Nicaragua's intelligence service is tracking opponents. The death of Mr. Samcam is likely but another desperate response by leaders who are reviled by most Nicaraguans. Costa Rica is no longer, given Mr. Samcam's killing, anything like a safe haven for outspoken critics of the regime. And other nearby countries are even more dangerous. Nor, given Donald Trump's immigration policies, can Nicaraguan freedom fighters find refuge in the United States. Costa Rica trades extensively with Nicaragua. Its President has been slow to tie Mr. Samcam's murder to the Ortega government. That's in contrast to Washington's actions in Mr. Trump's first term, when his government responded to crackdowns on protesters with surprising strength. Mr. Trump signed the Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act, aimed at crippling Nicaragua economically by ceasing lending by international development banks. Although Costa Rica is still Central America's least corrupt and best governed state, and tourism and tourists are not being targeted so far either by Nicaragua or by Colombian drug smugglers (who are establishing their cocaine trafficking trails in southwestern Costa Rica and in and near San José), Costa Rica is more at risk from actions to its north and south than ever before. Washington needs to help the Organization of American States (OAS) do more to curtail the Ortega/Murillo regime or sponsor a campaign leading to regime change.
The Hill
11-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Is the US following in Nicaragua's authoritarian footsteps?
There was a knock on the door. I knew who it was. Some friends had warned me they might be coming. I had been trying not to think too much about it. I figured I was not high enough on their list. They had already arrested the most outspoken, public-facing government critics — human rights lawyers, opposition politicians, etc. They were already in jail. Why would they come for me? But they did come for me. In November 2022, I was arrested in my home country of Nicaragua. I had been a student protester, leading marches and participating in negotiations with the authorities. The government accused me of terrorism and threw me in jail. There, I was psychologically tortured, stripped of my citizenship, and eventually exiled to the U.S. Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here These days, when I read stories of other students — Mahmoud Khalil, Yunseo Chung or Rümeysa Öztürk, for example — my thoughts inevitably turn to my own experience. When I see the protests in Los Angeles met with military force, I am reminded of how President Daniel Ortega responded to our protests. When I hear President Trump accuse protestors of being paid, I remember when Ortega said the same about me. Throughout my life, I have watched the slow erosion of my own country's democratic institutions; since my arrival in the U.S., I cannot help but notice the disturbing similarities here. In Nicaragua, the first step was El Pacto. Ortega, the famous Sandinista comandante of Nicaragua, ruled for 10 years in the 1980s but afterwards lost three subsequent elections. One of the candidates he lost to, the former mayor of Managua, Arnoldo Aleman, was eventually found guilty of stealing as much as $100 million from the impoverished country's coffers. On the verge of spending 20 years behind bars, he and Ortega, leaders from opposing political parties, struck a series of deals that allowed Ortega to return to power and Aleman to avoid jail time. Is this so different from New York City's Democratic mayor, Eric Adams, who, when on the verge of being tried for a what seemed like a slam-dunk corruption case, abruptly reversed course to support Trump's deportation plans, only to have the Justice Department drop the charges? It's another El Pacto — just farther north. A key aspect of Ortega's consolidation of power has been his war against the Nicaraguan university system. He first restricted their autonomy by forcibly aligning their curricula to the government's ideologies and placing party loyalists in oversight positions. Not unlike the Trump administration's revocations of federal funding to universities in the U.S., the University of Central America of Nicaragua, formerly one of the most highly regarded universities in the country, also saw the government cut off its funding. The Nicaraguan constitution states that 6 percent of the national budget must be distributed to universities. But after Ortega accused the UCA of supporting terrorism because its students participated in the nationwide uprising of 2018, those funds disappeared. At the same time, student protesters across the country saw their scholarships revoked. Ultimately, the UCA and many other universities were seized by the government. Does this not bear stark similarities to the last few months in the U.S.? We have seen prestigious U.S. universities accused of terrorism, their federal funding revoked, and the visas of many of their students canceled. The demands made on Harvard called for the university to accept an unprecedented level of government control. Could private universities in the U.S. eventually be seized, just as they have been in Nicaragua? The University of Central America was an extremely influential Catholic institution, but it was just one of many Catholic organizations that the Nicaraguan government attacked. Despite the fact that Catholicism is an integral part of Nicaraguan national identity, Ortega treats the Church as an opposition entity. He has accused it of money laundering and attacked the Nicaraguan Bishop's Conference, all while trying to appropriate the faith by promoting clergy who are ideologically in line with his own ends. Is this not so far off from Vice President Vance's recent accusations that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was resettling refugees for financial aims instead of humanitarian ones? Vance even invoked theological concepts to justify the administration's immigration policies. New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan called the accusations scurrilous; the late Pope Francis publicly contradicted Vance's theology in a letter to U.S. bishops. In a manner reminiscent of Ortega's reaction to a papal correction seven years prior, U.S. border czar Tom Homan responded by saying the pope should stick to fixing the Catholic Church. I must say, when Trump first came onto the political scene, I was attracted to his message: I imagined he would be good for the economy, and he spoke strongly against dictators in Latin America. But now, the dark similarities between leadership in Nicaragua and the U.S. have become undeniable. I grew up watching democracy in Nicaragua slowly disintegrate, one small step after another. I read of backdoor deals being made, saw universities attacked, and the religious authority of the Catholic Church undermined. When I stood up for democracy, I was accused of terrorism and thrown in jail. Now here, in the land of the free, I am seeing democracy once again under threat. How many more knocks on doors will there be? Miguel Flores is a Nicaraguan political exile, activist and advocate for democracy and human rights.
