BTN News: On Friday, Nicaragua’s Vice President Rosario Murillo gave a speech attacking opposition members. These members lost their nationality and political rights due to the government led by her husband, President Daniel Ortega. Since April 2018, Nicaragua has faced a deep political crisis, and the government’s actions against its critics have become stronger.
Murillo’s Speech Against Opposition Leaders
In her speech on official media in Managua, Murillo accused the opposition of harming the country’s progress. She called them “living dead” and “failures,” but did not provide any evidence. “They are bitter, lifeless, and mere ghosts of themselves, old, pushed aside by their own vices, and full of selfishness,” Murillo said.
Murillo also described the opposition as people who live off others and make empty noise with their vices. “They are perpetual freeloaders, paying to make their hollow shells sound, dimming even the darkness, because they are nothing, and as nothing, they are nobody,” she added.
Murillo’s Harsh Words for Denationalized and Exiled Opposition Members
Murillo, who is also the First Lady, criticized the opposition members who have been denationalized and exiled. She said they sold their souls to the devil. She described them as “clumsy, dull, and old souls wrapped in clouds of cowardice, hesitation, and betrayal. They are sellouts.”
She compared them to a poem by Nicaraguan poet Carlos Martínez Rivas. The poem talks about “living dead” who bury others like them. “That’s how they are now, adrift, failed, and defeated, without life. They are the zombies of culture, grotesques, ghosts, old ghouls filled with the evil that consumes them, clear in their appearance,” she said. “They are shadows, mere shadows, nothing but shadows. They are leftovers, remnants of empires. Shadows and remnants.”
Murillo’s Condemnation of Opposition and Traitors
In another part of her speech, Murillo said that “traitors with their masks are doomed to burn in the flames of their own Hell. Meanwhile, we move forward.”
The Nicaraguan government has taken away the nationality of 317 citizens. This group includes writers Sergio Ramírez and Gioconda Belli, bishops Rolando Álvarez and Silvio Báez, former revolutionary leader Luis Carrión, ex-guerrilla fighter Dora María Téllez, human rights defender Vilma Núñez, and journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro. All have been strong critics of the Ortega-Murillo government.
Nicaragua’s Ongoing Political and Social Crisis
Since April 2018, Nicaragua has faced a serious political and social crisis. This crisis got worse after the general elections on November 7, 2021. In these elections, Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term and a fourth consecutive term amid accusations of election fraud. His main opponents were put in prison, later expelled from the country, and lost their nationality and political rights. They were accused of “betraying the homeland.”
The ongoing crisis has seen the government repress dissent, with many opposition figures being targeted. Despite international criticism, the Ortega government continues its crackdown on critics, making the country’s political problems worse.
