Former Sandinista Army head Humberto Ortega, Daniel Ortega’s younger brother, publicly questioned the “dynastic succession” of an “authoritarian dictatorial power.”
By Monica Baltodano (Confidencial)
HAVANA TIMES – Humberto Ortega’s recent statements in an interview published by the Argentine website Infobae and the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa, have unleashed a sea of comments and speculations. We can’t overlook that Humberto was a Comandante of the 1979 Sandinista Revolution, and the first head of the Army that was created after the collapse of Somoza’s National Guard in 1979. He was also one of the chief strategists of the Sandinista faction known as Tercerista, which insisted on the urgency of establishing alliances and of promoting insurrections in the cities.
It’s true that one sector of Nicaraguan society rejects him for having served as head of an army that quickly acted to confront the counterrevolution. They frequently ignore the fact that the war waged in the 80’s was a ferocious struggle against a quasi-regular army, built with support from the government of Ronald Reagan, who had taken upon himself the job of putting an early end to the Revolution. It’s not my aim here to enter into the polemics of that topic, but rather to try and read what lies behind Humberto Ortega’s current positions, given that he’s also the dictator’s younger brother.
[Humberto] Ortega went through a period of very poor health. He now feels much better, but he knows his health is delicate. Doubtless, he’s worried about how history will judge him. He doesn’t want to remain silent, and thinks he can still do something for Nicaragua, to avoid having us “end up killing each other.” In that sense, he’s aligned with the opinion of the great majority of the Nicaraguan opposition: no one wants new wars or fratricidal confrontations. The new generations have placed their bets on the peaceful and civic path.
Certainly, his position – although in my view, it suffers from holes and errors – has the merit of being direct and frank. Its viability is another story. Still, it clearly indicates that the old power bloc is weakening, and we must continue insisting that Ortega and M
