With elections a year away, opposition to Ortega splits in Nicaragua

In Central America, the 6.4 million inhabitants of Nicaragua held high expectations for 2021. With next year’s general elections, the hope was to finally overthrow President Daniel Ortega, who has ruled the country since 2006. Once a socialist freedom fighter, leading the Sandinista Revolution in the 1970s, Mr. Ortega has gradually turned into exactly what he once fought against: from an idyllic revolutionary to an authoritarian leader. And he wants more. 

For the opposition and civil society, patience ran out in 2018. After a major reform to the Nicaraguan pension system, people rose up in protests that were brutally repressed by the government. More than 300 people were killed with the support of pro-regime paramilitary groups, thousands were held as political prisoners, NGOs and human rights groups were shut down, and journalists and opposition figures went into forced exile.

To make matters worse, the country’s economy was directly affected by the turmoil. In 2018 and 2019, Nicaragua’s GDP shrank 3.9 and 3.8 percent respectively, according to data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The solution to end “Orteguismo” was perceived as being at the polls, with the opposition forming a broad united front that would topple the government come 2021. Gathering forces to defeat Mr. Ortega’s Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), seven political parties united to...