Nicaragua's (Un)Constitutional Shift
Photo by Fabian Wiktor from Pexels
Since Donald Trump’s inauguration, the US government has experienced a constant flurry of international and domestic policy shifts and chaos. One area that has experienced such shifts is foreign policy, particularly in the US relationship with Latin American countries concerning trade and immigration. We’ve also seen a new, unprecedented relationship emerge in the White House—that between President Trump and entrepreneur and tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Nicaragua’s domestic, and international situation resonates with that of the new US administration. Mainly, the Constitution shift permitting Daniel Ortega’s utter takeover of the government follows a trend of a new wave of authoritarian Latin American countries. It also demonstrates a new way of governing a country from which Trump and Musk might draw inspiration.
Ortega became president following the Sandinista revolution that overthrew Anastasio Somoza, the US-backed dictator. Ortega won the subsequent 1984 election, and remained in power until 1990. He returned to power in 2007, and has served as Nicaragua’s President since. However, his role as an authoritarian was only recently solidified through his slow power-grabbing approach, and his now firm control of the state. His new constitution describes Nicaragua as a “revolutionary socialist state,” and includes a symbol of the FSLN guerilla group turned political party, which Ortega was a part of to facilitate the overturning of Somoza.
In 2018, mass protests in Nicaragua led to a government crackdown resulting in the death of over 300 people. Following these events, Ortega shut down over 5,000 NGOs. During this time, Ortega also pursued military cooperation with Moscow, which has since supplied the regime with equipment and training. Further, Ortega has pursued relations with China, including a strategic partnership in the business world and its membership under the Belt and Road Initiative, signalling willingness for Chinese investment.
If concerns over Russian and Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere weren’t strong enough, the domestic situation in Nicaragua reached new levels under Ortega after his January 30th constitutional amendment ratified by the state legislature. This amendment granted Ortega control of state powers and issued his wife, Rosario Murillo, the position of “co-president.” This “bicephalous” and “nepotistic” dictator(s)ship pursued several other changes, including a lengthening of the presidential term from five to six years and the power to coordinate all legislative, judicial, electoral, and supervisory bodies. Despite Murillo’s claim of Nicaragua as “a model of direct democracy,” thousands of Nicaraguans have fled the country under the increasingly repressive activities that include legal cover for systematic human rights violations, including revoking citizenship of “traitors,” and expanding government influence over the media. Nicaragua has also pulled out of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization following a report that stating an increase in hunger in the country. Ortega has also called for nuns to leave their monasteries, described as a “night of terror” by nuns and other Catholics.
Recent events mark eerie similarities between the constitutional shifts in Nicaragua to the current political changes under the second Trump Administration. Shut-down of NGOs and the subsequent seizing of all other organizations expected to give aid and provide relief to Nicaraguans sound familiar to Trump’s shut-down of the U.S. A.I.D. and the Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency’s spending cuts, including downsizing the Department of Education, freezing federal worker hiring, and disintegrating DEI programs. Trump’s bureaucratic reorganization puts his men in leadership positions within these organizations, ensuring control over these various bodies.
Further, Elon Musk’s description by many Democrats as Trump’s “co-president” has been thought provoking, although Elon commented on X that he preferred the title of “Tech Support.” However, there’s no doubt that Elon’s role is Trump’s de facto number two. Trump has loosened the reins on Musk, so much so that the billionaire feels empowered to remake the federal government to his liking. While Trump would not give Musk an official position as co-president like Ortega did with his wife, some aspects of Musk's role certainly appear similar.
One area where Trump and Ortega have come head-to-head on is migration. The Nicaraguan government traffics migrants from Latin America, Asia, and Africa into the US, in exchange for remittance payments and issued predatory visa fees. With Trump’s crackdown on the border, these policies have drawn scrutiny from top White House officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who accused Nicaragua of causing a regional migration crisis, and criticized the larger Nicaraguan co-presidency. Within his first week as President, Trump eliminated humanitarian parole and cancelled the CPD One application, leaving over 47,000 Nicaraguans in imminent danger of deportation back to the authoritarian state.
To prove Trump’s commitment to migration, and to establish a stronger stance against authoritarianism, Trump’s readiness to put economic pressure on Latin American countries could hurt Nicaragua. Sectoral sanctions, similar to those passed under the first Trump Administration, would show a US commitment to democracy, but might also exacerbate the problem by increasing the emigration flow out of Nicaragua.
Trump and Ortega are both walking a fine line with their policies and reforms. While Trump attracts more attention, it’s important to keep a sharp eye on the trend of reshaping government and power in the West.