The Nicaraguan Revolution Devours Its Children

Article at El Diario de Hoy, published on 18 February 2023 https://www.elsalvador.com/noticias/internacional/daniel-ortega-dictadura-nicaragua-/1040803/2023/

As in many dictatorships, Sandinismo has persecuted, imprisoned, and tortured those who once fought for the revolution but now criticize its abuse of power.

On June 13, 2021, the Nicaraguan dictatorship arrested Dora María Téllez, one of the most emblematic figures of the 1979 Sandinista Revolution.

Téllez, a fierce combatant and comrade-in-arms of the now dictator, was at her farm on the outskirts of Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, when she was arrested along with activist Ana Vijil. Both are part of the Sandinista Revolutionary Movement (MRS), founded by writer and former vice president Sergio Ramírez, and composed of dissidents from the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).

As in Goya’s painting, the Nicaraguan Revolution devours its children and its bravest soldiers. That Sunday in June, on the outskirts of Managua, Ortega betrayed and imprisoned one of the people who fought the most by his side and who even risked her life for the now dictator, at that time a revolutionary.

It took 606 days for Téllez to regain her freedom, but at an enormous cost.

She was part of the more than 200 political opponents, journalists, and regime critics who were exiled to the United States. Shortly thereafter, the dictatorship stripped Téllez of her Nicaraguan nationality, despite her being one of the main fighters for the freedom of her homeland in the 1970s.

Decades before being tortured in the El Chipote prison, Téllez was a key figure in the assault on the National Palace, a hard blow to Somocismo that led to the liberation of imprisoned guerrillas. She also played a key role in the final offensive against the dictatorship, and when the revolution triumphed, she became the Minister of Health in Ortega’s government.

The fate of the legendary “Comandante Dos” was shared by others who fought tirelessly to free Nicaragua and ended up imprisoned by their former battle comrade.

The General Who Saved Ortega

In February 2022, General Hugo Torres died while under custody at “El Chipote” prison. Without being defeated in trial and after enduring mistreatment and abuse, this former guerrilla was the first political prisoner to die under the custody of Daniel Ortega’s dictatorship.

But decades before being considered an enemy, exactly in 1974, Torres risked his life to free numerous political prisoners, including the man who today holds the shameful title of dictator of Managua.

“46 years ago, I risked my life to get Daniel Ortega and other political prisoners out of jail (…) but such are the twists of life, and those who once embraced principles have today betrayed them.”
— General Hugo Torres, former Nicaraguan guerrilla, who died under the dictatorship’s custody.

Ortega’s Ambassador
A similar fate befell Arturo Cruz Sequeira, who was imprisoned for 631 days before being exiled and stripped of his Nicaraguan nationality.

The economist and son of another historical member of Sandinismo, Arturo Cruz Porras, served as Daniel Ortega’s ambassador to the United States between 2007 and 2009. He was also one of the strongest voices in support of the Interoceanic Canal project, one of Ortega’s major bets.

Years later, in 2021, he ran for president to challenge Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, for power.

In June of that year, after returning from a trip to the United States, he was detained at the Managua airport and accused of conspiring to have sanctions imposed on Ortega’s government.

A Constant in Dictatorship
The history of revolutions that turn into dictatorships reveals certain constants. One of them is that once tyrants settle into power and consolidate it around themselves, they dispose of their opponents and critics.

They also purge some of their former allies, who know their secrets or have gained popularity in the revolutionary ranks.

Dictatorships, cowardly by nature, not only fear their opponents but also the most charismatic and viable faces within their own ranks.

As happened with General Raúl Baduel in Venezuela or former guerrillas Téllez and Torres in Nicaragua, it is typical of tyrants to imprison —and even let die in prison— those who were close to giving their lives for the leaders.

Revolutions that turn into dictatorships devour their children. The bravest. They purge or betray their loyal soldiers. And they reward the servile, the cowards, and those willing to condone abuses in order to keep a position they would never attain by their own merit in a democratic circumstance.