Daily Times

Nicaragua’s first couple, President Daniel Ortega and his wife Vice President Rosario Murillo, tightened their grip on power after government forces seized an opposition stronghold on the eve of Thursday’s Marxist revolution anniversary.

Former guerrilla leader Ortega, known as “el comandante” (the commander) for his iron-fisted rule, first held power for 11 years after the 1979 revolution.

But it is since his re-election in 2006 that he has gradually cemented his position and eliminated any serious rivals, leading to accusations of repressing dissent.

Murillo, extravagant, with a penchant for poetry and art, is no less redoubtable and her husband’s right-hand woman, although some believe she holds true power in the country.

Known as “Companera Rosario” (Comrade Rosario), she has risen through the party ranks since her husband’s re-election to the point of joining him in an effective diarchy.

Ortega: reclusive, Machiavellian

Ortega, 72, first seized control after his Sandinista guerrillas ousted the Somoza dynasty that had held power in Nicaragua from 1937 to 1979.

Now, critics accuse him of again turning Nicaraguan politics into a family affair.

Ortega headed a leftwing Sandinista junta with the support of Cuba and the Soviet Union after the revolution, and was elected president in 1985.

But, with the economy in ruins, he lost the following election in 1990. With his Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) party in opposition, he spent the next 17 years “ruling from below” — fomenting violent protests and negotiating reforms with the government. In 2006, he managed a presidential comeback, maneuvering to gradually take control over all state bodies, the police and the army.

Backed by the deep oil funds of Venezuela, under his ideological ally Hugo Chavez, he started social programs for the poor, many of whom continue to support him. But he was also careful to nurture ties with Nicaragua’s powerful business families, promising stability.

In 2014, his party in congress engineered a constitutional amendment scrapping presidential term limits, opening the way for him to remain president for life.

Ortega’s shrewd politics, combined with his skill at ruthlessly cornering opponents, made him the leader of the FSLN, which he joined in 1963.

Born in the mining village of La Libertad, Ortega ditched his law studies to join the guerrillas. He spent seven years behind bars, at times tortured, at the hands of the Somoza regime. Now ruling from a heavily guarded Managua residence, he lives a semi-reclusive life.

He is reluctant to travel, or give interviews or press conferences.

Murillo: Nicaragua’s Thatcher?

As Ortega has retreated from the spotlight, his “loyal companion” and wife, Rosario Murillo — with whom he has six children, one of them adopted — has taken his place.

“She is a very intelligent, original woman who has a commanding voice,” Eden Pastora, another ex-rebel, told AFP.

He compared Murillo, 67, to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who was known as “the Iron Lady,” and India’s Indira Gandhi. A ceaseless worker, a poet who speaks fluent English and French, and given to wearing colorful clothes and jewelry reminiscent of the hippie 1960s, Murillo always acted outside the confines of a traditional first lady.

Her first government role was as a self-appointed communicator-in-chief, making sure no other ministers spoke or acted without her permission.

“We live in a time of blessings, prosperity and victories. Daniel salutes you, embraces you,” she would regularly say in soothing broadcasts laced with poems, delivered only on state media.

Published in Daily Times, July 20^th 2018.