Central America

Ortega a shoo-in in ‘sham’ Nicaragua vote

AFP

Nicaraguans go to the polls Sunday for presidential elections dismissed as a “sham” by the international community, with all viable challengers to long-term leader Daniel Ortega locked up or in exile.

As Ortega, 75, prepared to claim a fourth consecutive term — his fifth overall — the United States described Nicaragua as a “cautionary tale” with a regime “determined to hold on to power at any cost.”

“It will be quite clear that these elections will have no credibility, that they’re a sham,” Patrick Ventrell, the US State Department’s Central American Affairs director said Thursday.

“We are going into a scenario where you have a dictatorship, and we’ll have to respond to such.”

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Just over three years after massive protests against his rule and a violent crackdown that claimed more than 300 lives, Ortega is assured another five-year term with his wife and vice-president, Rosario Murillo, 70, by his side.

Seven people who had any real shot at the presidency are among 39 opposition figures detained in a brutal government clampdown that started in June.

Ortega, the leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), faces five opponents, though in name only — all are derided as regime collaborators.

The vote in Central America’s poorest country will take place without international observers and with most foreign media denied access to the country.

Nicaragua’s last opposition daily, La Prensa, had its director thrown in prison in August, and Facebook announced this week it had closed a government-operated troll farm spreading anti-opposition messages.

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Amid the suppression, fear vies with apathy among Nicaragua’s 4.3 million eligible voters. Voting is not mandatory in the country of 6.5 million.

“There is no one to vote for. Daniel (Ortega) has it in the bag,” a 46-year-old woman told AFP at her home in Masaya, 35 kilometers (20 miles) south of the capital Managua.

She asked not to be named. “One cannot talk. You’ll go to jail,” she said.

– All sewn up –

A firebrand Marxist in his youth, Ortega ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, after the guerrilla ousting of US-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle.

Returning to power in 2007, he has won reelection three times, becoming increasingly authoritarian and quashing presidential term limits.

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Two-thirds of respondents in a recent Cid-Gallup poll said they would have voted for an opposition candidate on Sunday.

The favorite was Cristiana Chamorro, daughter of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro who is the only person to have beaten Ortega in an election, in 1990.

But Chamorro is under house arrest, and six other presidential hopefuls are behind bars in conditions their family members say amount to torture.

The jailed opposition figures are accused of unspecified attacks on Nicaragua’s “sovereignty” under a law passed by a parliament dominated by Ortega allies, who also control the judicial and electoral branches.

Election authorities have banned the country’s main opposition alliance, Citizens for Freedom, from contesting Sunday’s vote, just like in 2016 when Ortega won unopposed.

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Three political parties and dozens of civic organizations are prohibited.

– ‘A complete sham’ –

A grouping of Nicaraguan and international NGOs this week urged the United Nations to investigate “gross human rights violations” under Ortega’s rule.

“Ortega will continue in power… and the repression against those who defend human rights and think differently to the regime will likely worsen,” said the group that calls itself Colectivo 46/2.

Apart from about 150 political opponents known to be behind bars, more than 100,000 Nicaraguans are in exile to avoid arrest — mainly in Costa Rica, Miami and Madrid.

For Ortega — whose main allies are Venezuela, Cuba and Russia — his jailed critics are not political prisoners but “criminals” seeking to overthrow him with US backing.

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– ‘Dictator’ –

The wave of arrests has worsened ties with the United States and European Union, who have imposed sanctions against Ortega family members and allies.

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has branded Ortega a “dictator” staging “fake” elections, and on Wednesday, the US Congress approved a law to ramp up punitive measures.

In the United States, Europe and other Latin American countries, opponents of the Ortega regime are planning protests for Sunday and agitating for a boycott of the vote.

In Nicaragua itself, gatherings of more than 200 people are banned, ostensibly as a coronavirus prevention measure.

More than 30,000 police and military have been deployed to guard 3,000 polling stations.

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Polls are due to open at 13H00 GMT (7:00 am) and close 11 hours later.

The results, predictable as they are, are expected the same day.

Central America

Guatemala Court Voids List of Candidates for Top Prosecutor Position

President of Guatemala cannot remove attorney general from office

Constitutional Court of Guatemala on Thursday annulled the shortlist of six candidates for attorney general and head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, ordering authorities to repeat the evaluation phase of the selection process.

The ruling came in response to a legal appeal filed by Raúl Amílcar Falla Ovalle, who challenged the way professional experience had been assessed for some applicants, particularly those with careers in the judiciary.

As a result of the decision, the selection process has been suspended, and the Postulation Commission must return to the stage in which the original 48 applicants were evaluated.

According to the ruling, the commission must reapply the grading criteria without automatically counting years served as judges as equivalent to the professional experience required for the position.

“The Postulation Commission for the election of the Attorney General and Head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is ordered to reassess the applicants by strictly applying the approved grading table,” the resolution states.

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The Constitutional Court also stressed that the process must guarantee merit, competence, and suitability, while ensuring greater transparency in the assignment of scores.

Central America

U.S. extradites Iranian man over alleged sanctions evasion scheme

The United States has extradited from Panama an Iranian national accused of evading economic sanctions against Iran by illegally exporting U.S. technology. He is scheduled to appear this Monday before a court in Seattle.

Reza Dindar, 44, was extradited on April 17 after being detained in Panama since July 2025 on charges related to export control violations between 2011 and 2012, allegedly carried out through companies based in China.

The defendant appeared before a U.S. district court in Seattle, where he faces charges of violating sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran in 1995 during the administration of Bill Clinton. These sanctions prohibit the unauthorized export, re-export, or supply—directly or indirectly—of U.S. goods, technology, or services to Iran or its government.

According to the indictment, between 2010 and 2014, Dindar led the company New Port Sourcing Solutions in Xi’an, China, which allegedly concealed the procurement of U.S. products for shipment to clients in Iran.

Central America

Bukele administration surpasses 1,100 homicide-free days amid ongoing crackdown

El Salvador's PNC adds 85 days without murders and April is on track to be the safest in Salvadoran history

On Saturday, April 18, the Policía Nacional Civil (PNC) reported that no homicides were recorded in El Salvador, bringing the total to 17 days without murders.

With this update, the country has accumulated 91 homicide-free days so far in 2026. January closed with 27 such days, followed by 24 in February and 23 in March, according to police data.

During the administration of President Nayib Bukele, a total of 1,193 days without homicides have been registered. Of those, 1,079 have occurred since the implementation of the state of exception.

This extraordinary security measure has been extended 49 times by the Asamblea Legislativa de El Salvador, with the latest extension in effect from April 1 to April 30, 2026. Under the measure, more than 91,700 gang members and collaborators have been detained and prosecuted for illicit association.