Co-presidents of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, at the official event for the 47th anniversary of the triumph of the Sandinista Revolution, July 19, 2026. Photo: César Pérez/El 19 Digital.
The co-president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, declared that the country’s institutions will take measures to prevent political parties involved in recent violent actions with seditious aims, with the political and financial sponsorship of the US, from threatening national peace.
“Do not think that just because there is no war, we are at peace,” Ortega said at the official event on the occasion of the 47th anniversary of the triumph of the Sandinista Revolution, held on Sunday, July 19. “The opposition supported by the US lives there, conspiring, organizing, looking for ways to form parties so that in an election, they can supposedly win. But here ends the story of the parties put in place by the US, by the supporters of the Somoza dictatorship [that ruled Nicaragua between 1937 and 1979], returning to power. Never, never, never.”
In this regard, he specified that “we are going to work, with the National Assembly and the corresponding organizations, on the laws, because we need to make laws that would put a wall, a block, against the coup plotters, the traitors,” so that, “no matter how much money the US gives them,” they cannot destroy the undeniable social achievements of the Sandinista National Liberation Front and the government that he leads.
The 2018 coup attempt
In a similar vein, Ortega called upon everyone to remember that, in 2018, local business sectors breached the pact that they had signed with the Nicaraguan authorities to maintain stability and allied with foreign interests to plunge the country into chaos, leaving behind a trail of deaths and violence, in pursuit of a coup that failed.
“Let us remember how in 2018, while we were in agreements with the business sectors, with the Somoza supporters who were business owners—we had an agreement with them for peace, and the agreement was progressing, but suddenly they backstabbed. They organized the coup, used US funds to bring in young people and adults, to prepare them, train them, arm them, and try to overthrow the legitimate government of the Sandinista Front,” he recounted.
Thereafter, those agents attempted to paralyze the country through roadblocks, and the government had no choice but to deploy the police, which, along with volunteers, cleared the roads. However, he emphasized, that did not prevent serious crimes from being committed, which included the murder of Nicaraguans and the destruction of educational and public facilities.
“Here, the blood of young people, adults, women, and children was shed. Blood was shed and, in the end, there was no other way but to respond with the force of the people’s anger,” he said.
Disinformation campaign against Ortega’s statements
The US government and mainstream media are spreading propaganda about what Ortega said, taking out of context a part of his speech where he said that “there will be no more elections” for the US-sponsored coup-plotting political parties. However, the US and its subservient media have presented this statement as an indication of the Ortega government’s “authoritarian” decision to end elections in Nicaragua.
Nevertheless, as evident from President Ortega’s speech, there is no plan to end elections in the country. In reality, Nicaragua is defending its sovereignty and trying to prevent the US empire from installing another puppet regime like the Somoza dictatorship that took the lives of at least 50,000 Nicaraguans and that the US had propped up for decades. The US empire has invaded Nicaragua multiple times over two centuries, militarily occupied the country, waged a terrorist war through the Contras, funded the far right, and meddled in various elections—several times with disastrous consequences for the Nicaraguan people, and has been carrying out a hybrid war since the beginning of this century. In his speech, Ortega referred to this history and asserted that the authorities would adopt measures to prevent a repeat of the bloodshed.
(El 19 Digital) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/SH
