In 1986, members of the Reagan Administration got in trouble for secretly using the proceeds from the sale of weapons to Iran to fund a right-wing paramilitary organization in Nicaragua known as the “Contras” (hence, the “Iran-Contra Affair”). Congress had cut off the regular funding to the Contras, and was furious to find out the Executive branch was illegally going behind its back. The Reagan administration endured many grilling Congressional hearings which attempted to find the President responsible for the actions, but Reagan ultimately was found to have plausible deniability. The Contras fought a drawn out war with the Communist-backed Sandinistas, led by Daniel Ortega. Ortega held onto power as dictator for ten years, but eventually held elections and was voted out of office in 1990.
That’s where the history books usually stop.
Now there’s more to the story, as Mary Anastasia O'Grady tells us:
“[Ortega] lost that election to Violeta Chamorro yet the army, which he controlled, continued to block the return of private property, and he yearned to return to power. Nicaraguans knew better. They rejected him as a presidential candidate again when he ran in 1996 and in 2001.
That might have been the end of his despotic dreams if not for the corruption on the other side of the aisle. Center-right president Arnoldo Alemán (1997-2002) wanted protection from prosecution for alleged embezzlement after he left office. So he and his Liberal Constitutional Party made a "pact" with Mr. Ortega and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua's Congress.
The Sandinistas agreed to give Mr. Alemán a lifetime seat in the National Assembly and immunity from prosecution. In exchange Mr. Alemán traded away key institutional protections designed to guard the young, fragile democracy. Perhaps most egregiously, Mr. Alemán agreed to lower the threshold for a first-round victory in a presidential race from 45% to 35%.
It was a monumental betrayal. In the 2006 presidential election, when the anti-Ortega vote split, Mr. Ortega's 38% was enough to give him a victory.
Communists in Latin America, even when elected, are like infestations in the home. Once in, they don't leave. Mr. Ortega is no exception.
In 2007 Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez was spreading discounted oil around the region to expand the influence of his Bolivarian Alliance. Mr. Ortega was at the ready.
Using the Chávez handouts he created an illusion of prosperity while making himself the owner of the country much like Somoza had been. He was smart enough to invite would-be adversaries to the fiesta. He was branded a "pragmatic" socialist even as he got rid of checks on his power and the rule of law. When the economy slowed he turned on them.”
We are in the year 2021. Ortega is back as President, and has arrested half of the candidates running against him.
Will the Biden administration do anything to stop Ortega and allow real elections to take place?
According to this article, several of the detentions happened immediately after Secretary of State Blinken met with Nicaragua’s foreign minister on June 3rd:
“At the meeting, Mr. Blinken assured the Nicaraguans that the U.S. wanted a constructive relationship with Mr. Ortega and would accept any result of a free and fair election, said Ms. Chung.
Following the arrests, however, Ms. Chung said that the U.S. ‘does not see conditions for free and fair elections’ in Nicaragua.
Mr. Ortega's government, which polls show has grown unpopular with Nicaraguans, may have decided the risks of losing an election are higher than upsetting the international community, said Eric Farnsworth, a former senior U.S. diplomat.
‘They are testing the limits of how far they can push,’ said Mr. Farnsworth. ‘They have assessed what the U.S. is willing to do in the region and determined that the reward is bigger than the downside.’”
If that is correct, the current U.S. State Department has been made to look extremely naive and weak in this incident. Manipulating Democrats is nothing new for Ortega though. I was able to find Texas Democrat Jim Wright's "dear Commandante" letter to Ortega from 1984. It more or less says, "please hold real elections." We're still saying that 37 years later.
And the manipulation of naive, well-intentioned advocates of democracy by tyrants is of course nothing new either. It’s a story as old as Dionysius of Syracuse, who was willing to do anything to hold onto power- even tricking Plato the philosopher to come to Syracuse to provide him cover, before throwing him in jail. Some things never change.
November 2021 update:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/nicaragua-veers-to-dictatorship-as-president-holds-election-the-u-s-calls-sham-11636201160