Daniel Ortega, Nicaraguan politician, President of Nicaragua
José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (Spanish pronunciation: [daˈnjel oɾˈteɣa]; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguan politician serving as President of Nicaragua since 2007. Previously, he was leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as Coordinator of the Junta of National Reconstruction (1979–1985) and then as President of Nicaragua (1985–1990). A leader in the Sandinista National Liberation Front (Spanish: Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN), he implemented policies to achieve leftist reforms across Nicaragua. In later years, Ortega's previously left-wing radical politics moderated more and more, pursuing pro-business policies and even rapprochement with the Catholic Church, with the adoption of strong anti-abortion policies by his government in the 2000s, and adoption of strong religious rhetoric by the previously atheist Ortega. After the retirement of Fidel Castro in 2008, Ortega is one of the longest-serving non-royal rulers in the world and the longest serving non-royal leader in the Americas.
Born into a working-class family, from an early age Ortega opposed Nicaragua's dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle, and became involved in the underground movement against his government. Joining the Sandinistas as a student in 1963, Ortega became involved with urban resistance activities and was arrested and imprisoned in 1967. Ortega, like many political prisoners of the Somoza regime, was tortured and abused in jail. Upon release in 1974, he was exiled to Cuba, where he received training in guerrilla warfare from Fidel Castro's Marxist–Leninist government. Ortega and his brother Humberto formed the Insurrectionist, or Tercerista (Third Way) faction, which united the FSLN and sparked the mass uprisings of 1978–1979, culminating in the Nicaraguan Revolution. After the overthrow and exile of Somoza Debayle's government, Ortega became leader of the ruling multi-partisan Junta of National Reconstruction. In the 1984 Nicaraguan general election, Ortega won Nicaragua's disputed presidential election with over 60% of the vote as the FSLN's candidate. A Marxist–Leninist, Ortega pursued a program of nationalization, land reform, wealth redistribution, and the Nicaraguan Literacy Campaign during his first period in office.
Ortega's relationship with the United States was never very cordial, as the US had long supported the Somoza family's dictatorship. Although the US initially supplied the ruined post-revolution Nicaragua with economic aid, relations quickly soured. His government was beset by violent opposition from US-backed rebels, best known as the Contras. This illegal intervention continued (albeit covertly) after Ortega's democratic election as president in 1984. Peace talks between five Central American heads of state in July 1987 led to the signing of the Central American Peace Accords, and the beginning of a roadmap to the end of the conflict. In 1988, the Contras first entered into peace talks with the Sandinista government, although the violence continued, as did their US support. Despite US opposition, disarmament of the Contras began in 1989. The US continued the economic embargo, promising to lift it if the Sandinistas were ousted in the election, providing financial support to the opposition candidate, and promising aid to Nicaragua should she be elected.
After a difficult presidency marred by war and economic collapse, Ortega was defeated in the 1990 Nicaraguan general election by Violeta Chamorro. He continued to be an important figure in Nicaraguan opposition politics. Ortega was an unsuccessful candidate for president in 1996 and 2001 but won the 2006 Nicaraguan general election. In office, he made alliances with fellow Latin American socialists, such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Under Ortega's leadership, Nicaragua joined the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas. His second administration became increasingly antidemocratic, alienating many of his former revolutionary allies, some of whom compared him to Somoza, who they had overthrown. In June 2018, Amnesty International and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States reported that Ortega had engaged in a violent oppression campaign against protesters in response to the anti-Ortega 2018–2021 Nicaraguan protests. The violent crackdown during 2018 protests and subsequential decrease of civil liberties have led to massive waves of migration to Costa Rica, with over 30,000 Nicaraguans filing for asylum in that neighboring country.Repression against his political opponents increased in 2021. His government jailed many of his potential rivals in the 2021 Nicaraguan general election, including Cristiana Chamorro Barrios, daughter of former president Violeta Chamorro de Barrios. Ortega's government imprisoned others who opposed him, including former allies Dora Maria Tellez and Hugo Torres Jiménez. In August 2021, Nicaragua cancelled the operating permits of six US and European NGOs. Many critics of the Ortega government, including opposition leaders, journalists and members of civil society, fled the country in mid-2021. After his 2021 reelection, Joe Biden banned the president from entering the United States.