Sawt Falasteen - Ex-Nicaragua guerrilla believes Ortega-Murillo days numbered

A firebrand Marxist in his youth and leader of a revolution against a US-backed autocrat, 80-year-old Ortega has been in power since 2007 following elections questioned by the international community.

The United States has branded his government a dictatorship, accusing it of seizing total power with a constitutional rewrite and crushing dissent.

Ortega and Baltodano both fought for the same Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in the 70s and 80s, but Baltodano now calls the presidential couple "two beings completely corrupted by ambition" for power.

From the cozy garden of her home adorned with Nicaraguan artwork and trinkets, she shared her reflections on her country with AFP.

Recalling the days of the "genocidal" US-backed Somoza dictatorship -- toppled by the FSLN in 1979 -- she conceded that "we had civic resistance combined with armed struggle, demonstrations and even a press."

Ortega's Nicaragua, meanwhile, is "more closed off."

"It resembles (North) Korea. It has instrumentalized exile and denationalization, and has ended up brutally persecuting the Catholic Church. No independent institution can exist."

According to opposition reports, with Ortega facing mounting health issues, 74-year-old Murillo has launched an internal purge to ensure she retains power.

Baltodano was skeptical of the co-president's chances of success.

"Rosario wouldn't withstand Ortega's disappearance because she's still using him as a kind of icon, almost elevated to the level of a deity," the 71-year-old said. "Institutions wouldn't be subordinated to her the way they are now."

- 'Constant distrust' -

Baltodano, who left Nicaragua in 2021 after denouncing Ortega's "authoritarian drift," was stripped of her citizenship in 2023 along with scores more exiled dissidents.

Managua is under US and EU sanctions, while thousands of Nicaraguans have fled into exile as the government jailed hundreds of opponents, real and perceived.

Ortega and Murillo "live in constant distrust," she said. "That's why today they have more people imprisoned from within their own ranks than members of the opposition."

The ex-guerrilla opposes the kind of US intervention that deposed Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro -- an Ortega ally -- in January.

"We Nicaraguans have to be able to resolve our own problems, not by turning our backs on the international community, but not as the result of interventionist actions by any power either," she said.

On exile, Baltodino said it becomes "doubly painful" as the years go by.

A report by independent United Nations experts in March highlighted the growing targeting of Nicaraguans in exile by the government.

"We take certain precautions, but we're not obsessed with fear," said Baltodano, who is "absolutely sure" she will return to her country one day.

M.AbuKhalil--SF-PST