Nicaragua's Congress approved a constitutional reform on Thursday that would make President Daniel Ortega and his wife, current Vice President Rosario Murillo, "co-presidents" of the Central American nation. The proposal also expanded the presidential term to six years from five in a move that further consolidated the family's firm grip on power, reports the AP. The initiative was already pushed forward in November and because Ortega and Murillo's Sandinista party control the congress and all government institutions, there was little doubt it would pass.
Experts say the new constitution, which took effect on Thursday, was yet another move to guarantee presidential succession for Murillo and their family and further chip away at the few remaining balances of power left after years of democratic crackdowns. Murillo already wielded significant power over the government. Though in audio published to state media's Instagram page on Thursday, Murillo declared that the reform "strengthens the model of people's president, the model of direct democracy." The proposals come amid an ongoing crackdown by the Ortega government since mass social protests in 2018 that the government violently repressed.
Nicaragua's government has imprisoned adversaries, religious leaders, journalists, and more, then exiled them, stripping hundreds of their Nicaraguan citizenship and possessions. Since 2018, it has shuttered more than 5,000 organizations, largely religious, and forced thousands to flee the country. Thursday's measure quickly fueled a new round of criticism from the government with Reed Brody, an American human rights lawyer and member of a group of UN experts on the Central American country, saying it was yet another expansion of the family's power in a post on the social media platform X. "Nicaragua's grotesque Constitutional reforms sound the death knell for the rule of law and basic freedoms," he wrote. (More Nicaragua stories.)
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