The Nicaraguan president, Daniel Ortega, responded with a defiant message and claimed the support of the Army in his country after the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, asked his international partners to cut normal commercial relations with Managua. Washington faces the constitutional reform that excludes from the elections those who the Government considers “traitors to the country” and consolidates the power of Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo.
First modification: 09/03/2026 - 19:11 Last modification: 09/03/2026 - 19:20
Not even the warnings from the United States seem to dissuade Daniel Ortega from his goal of tightening his grip on power.
The president of Nicaragua responded with a defiant speech to the pressure from Donald Trump's Administration and defended what he called the unity of his Government and the Armed Forces in the face of what he called "external threats."
During the event for the 47th anniversary of the Nicaraguan Army, Ortega assured that both the Sandinista Government and the military remain firm in the face of international pressure. “You neither sell nor give up, ever,” he stated, also appealing to a “strength that comes from God” to face the threats.
The message came after the National Assembly, controlled by the ruling party, approved in its first term a constitutional reform promoted by Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, which extends the mandate of elected officials from six to seven years and establishes new restrictions for those who can run for elections.
Ortega not only defended the reform. He also highlighted the explicit support of the head of the Army, Julio César Avilés, for the parliamentary decision.
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Avilés, for his part, described those who question the Government as “traitors and traitors” and assured that the soldiers will remain “loyal” and “cohesive.”
The staging is politically significant: in the face of increased international pressure, Ortega shows the Army as a pillar of the continuity of the regime.
Read alsoNicaragua without opposition: is the Ortega-Murillo dynasty consolidated?
What has the United States asked for?
Washington's response came from the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who urged his country's international partners to immediately end normal trade relations with the Nicaraguan Administration.
Rubio formulated the request after the approval of the constitutional reform and accused the Ortega Government of moving towards the definitive elimination of free elections and of consolidating an “illegitimate dynasty.”
Washington also maintains that it remains committed to addressing human rights violations attributed to the Nicaraguan government.
The US request raises the level of pressure on Managua by not limiting itself to a diplomatic condemnation of the reform. And it seeks that other countries also use their economic and commercial relations as an instrument of pressure.
Rubio seeks to increase the international cost of Nicaraguan political drift. The United States has not only raised a new diplomatic condemnation. By asking its partners to stop normal trade relations with Managua, it is trying to turn rejection of reform into coordinated pressure.
The problem for Washington is that Nicaragua maintains economic relations with numerous countries and that a policy of commercial isolation requires that other governments be willing to assume the costs of confronting the Ortega Executive.
Managua's reaction indicates that, at least initially, the Nicaraguan Government does not intend to give in to this pressure.
Ortega has historically presented international sanctions and criticism as part of a strategy of foreign interference. His speech this Wednesday once again placed the conflict in that framework: a Government that presents itself as a defender of sovereignty against a power that, according to its story, intends to impose its conditions.
The initiative also occurs in a context in which several Latin American governments have expressed their concern about the democratic deterioration of Nicaragua.
Peru has asked the international community to activate mechanisms to prevent the consolidation of a dictatorship, while Costa Rica has denounced the “continued democratic deterioration” and has announced that it will support a firm and coordinated response within the Organization of American States.
Read alsoExtended and renewable periods: this is how Ortega and Murillo seek to legitimize a Nicaragua without elections
What does Ortega's constitutional reform change?
The most controversial point of the reform is the new regime of incompatibilities for accessing public positions.
The approved text establishes that “traitors to the country” cannot be candidates for elected office or perform public functions, as it calls members of the opposition and anyone who does not adhere to its interests.
The expression is not merely rhetorical. The Nicaraguan Government has used it to refer to hundreds of opponents and critics, including citizens whose nationality was withdrawn and expelled from the country.
The reform extends this prohibition to those who have exercised direction, leadership, financing, participation or any type of connection with the planning or execution of an alleged attempted coup d'état.
It also covers those who, according to the authorities, have carried out actions that undermine the independence, sovereignty or self-determination of Nicaragua, promote "foreign interference", request foreign military intervention or support blockades, sanctions or economic measures against the Nicaraguan State.
In practice, the definition is broad enough to allow the political power to exclude from electoral competition sectors of the opposition that have denounced the Government before international organizations or have supported sanctions against Managua.
The prohibition is also not limited to candidacies. Those who fall into these categories will also not be able to form part of the boards of directors of political parties or organizations.
Read also “Our democracy, our elections”: Nicaragua after criticism of its announcement to eliminate elections
The underlying shock: elections or continuity of power
The other major modification consists of extending the terms of office from six to seven years. The extension affects the co-presidents, deputies, mayors and other elected officials, but also certain judicial and electoral authorities and the heads of the Army and the Police.
The change has an immediate consequence: Nicaragua had scheduled its next general elections for November 2026, but the extension of the mandates moves the electoral calendar until 2027.
The reform is not yet in force. The Nicaraguan Constitution requires that constitutional changes be approved by two different legislatures. The first vote has already taken place; The second should correspond to the next legislature, which begins on January 9, 2027.
Ortega has set January 18 as the date for this second approval. If the process ends as planned, the new Constitution will legally consolidate a system in which the Government will be able to prevent the electoral participation of certain opponents while prolonging the mandates of the top leadership.
The dispute goes far beyond a constitutional modification. For the Nicaraguan Government, it is about reinforcing sovereignty and protecting the State against those it considers responsible for attempts at destabilization and foreign interference.
For the United States and several Latin American governments, the problem is precisely the opposite: the reform uses the Constitution to convert into legal mechanisms that reduce electoral competition and allow the power of Ortega and Murillo to be prolonged.
The result is a new clash between two incompatible conceptions of legitimacy.
Ortega claims the mandate of the State and its right to define who can participate in political life. Its critics maintain that a democracy cannot be considered competitive if the power that controls the institutions also has the ability to decide which opponents are excluded from the elections.
The second vote scheduled for January will, therefore, be much more than a parliamentary procedure.
It will be the moment when Nicaragua takes another step towards the model designed by Ortega and Murillo: a system with electoral institutions, but with an increasingly limited opposition and longer presidential terms.
And while Washington tries to raise the international cost of that process, Ortega makes it clear that his response will not be to negotiate under pressure, but to resist it.
Read also “There will be no more elections”: is democracy liquidated in Nicaragua or is there still a political solution?
A project that goes beyond Ortega
The reform does not only affect the political future of Daniel Ortega. It also reinforces the power model built with his wife, Rosario Murillo.
Since 2025, both have served as co-presidents of Nicaragua, after another constitutional modification that elevated Murillo from vice-presidency to co-presidency.
The system involves a concentration of political power in the presidential couple, who control the state apparatus and have a National Assembly dominated by the ruling party.
The new reform now extends the terms of both to seven years.
For this reason, international criticism does not describe the change solely as a technical modification of the electoral deadlines. They interpret it as another step in the institutionalization of family power that has progressively reduced the spaces for opposition and political competition.
Read also: What alternatives does the opposition have in Nicaragua after Ortega's exclusion from the elections?
The precedent of 2018
The current confrontation cannot be understood without the crisis that began in April 2018. The protests initially arose against social security reforms, but quickly transformed into a broader movement against Ortega and his government.
The response of the authorities was a strong repression that left more than 300 dead, thousands injured and triggered a mass exodus of Nicaraguans.
Since then, the Government has persecuted and imprisoned opponents and has dismantled many of the political and social structures capable of challenging it.
The November 2021 elections, in which Ortega obtained a new mandate, were marked by the arrest of opposition leaders and were questioned internationally.
The following constitutional reform now deepens this process. The new constitutional change must also be read in light of a particularly significant statement from Ortega himself.
On July 19, the president stated that “there will be no more elections” in Nicaragua, arguing that the electoral system had allowed his adversaries to return to power.
The subsequent parliamentary approval of the reform turns that political declaration into a possible institutional roadmap.
It does not mean that Nicaragua formally stops holding any electoral process. The change consists of something more complex: maintaining the electoral architecture while restricting who can compete and prolonging the mandate of those who already control the State.
It is precisely this mechanism that worries Washington and other Latin American governments.
Read alsoNicaragua, the forgotten dictatorship
The role of the Army: the most important signal of Ortega's speech
That Ortega chose precisely the celebration of the Army's anniversary to respond to the United States is not a minor detail either.
The president insisted that Nicaragua faces a “world military power” and asked the Armed Forces and their followers to remain alert.
The head of the Army, Julio César Avilés, publicly supported the constitutional reform.
The image projected by the Nicaraguan power is, therefore, that of a cohesive political and military bloc in the face of external pressures.
This is especially relevant in a country whose recent history is marked by armed conflicts, revolutions and a deep confrontation between state institutions and the opposition.
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A reform still pending the second vote
Although the ruling party has control of the National Assembly, the reform must still complete the constitutional procedure.
The first approval was unanimous and by show of hands. The second must be carried out during the next legislature, which will begin in January 2027.
Meanwhile, international pressure is expected to continue.
The United States demands commercial isolation; Costa Rica calls for a coordinated response at the OAS; Peru denounces an attempt to consolidate a dictatorship; and other governments in the region have expressed concern about institutional drift.
Ortega, for his part, responds that Nicaragua will not surrender to the threats and presents the reform as a sovereign decision of the National Assembly.
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With Reuters and EFE
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