U.S. military role should combine traditional missions in the region with adaptations supporting transparency, rule-of-law, and strengthening partner nation institutions.
On Sunday, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, won reelection following a year of political prosecutions, bans on opposition parties, and laws to curtail the independent press.
This November, voters in five countries across Latin America head to the polls. In Chile, Argentina, and Honduras, the electorate will have an opportunity to choose from an array of candidates from different ideological backgrounds. In Nicaragua and Venezuela, free and fair elections are far from guaranteed.
To be clear, November 7 is a complete farce. Rather than anything resembling a democratic election, the events of that day will approximate a coronation ceremony.
The failures in exporting American democracy call for the reframing of democracy promotion as a strategy. If the Biden administration develops a combined regional strategy, it could represent a renewed opportunity.
International opposition has had little effect so far on repression in Nicaragua. To understand why, it’s important to recognize Ortega and Murillo’s motivations.
Hopes for a peaceful, diplomatic outcome may seem slender. But confidence that tougher sanctions will do the job on their own may be even more misplaced.
This week in Nicaragua, President Daniel Ortega continued to crack down on critics and opposition leaders in advance of the November elections that will see him vying for a fourth consecutive presidential term (and fifth term overall). Over the past two weeks, Ortega’s government has arrested and detained 13 prominent opposition figures, including four prospective presidential challengers.
In what amounts to perhaps the most aggressive crackdown on Nicaragua’s opposition since the deadly suppression of popular antigovernment protests in 2018 left hundreds dead, the government of President Daniel Ortega has arrested six opposition leaders—including four potential challengers to Ortega in November’s upcoming presidential election (Cristiana Chamorro, Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Arturo Cruz, Jr., and Félix Maradiaga)—in the past two weeks alone.
Among the first critical tests of the Biden administration will be the November 2021 presidential elections in Honduras and Nicaragua. Both countries are facing difficult elections mired by corruption, authoritarianism, and weak oppositions.
