State Department condemns Nicaragua's Ortega after he declares country will hold no future elections

Daniel Ortega, who has held power in Nicaragua for nearly 20 years across two stints as president, announced Monday that the country would cancel future elections. "There won't be any more elections here for them to try to seize the government and seize power," Ortega said, adding that parties he described as backed by "the Yankees and the Somocistas" would never return to power.

The U.S. State Department issued a condemnation on Tuesday. A spokesperson stated that Ortega and Murillo "have abandoned even the pretense of popular consent" and that their "declaration that under his family's dictatorship Nicaragua will never again hold elections lays bare their true authoritarian nature." The statement also cited what it described as the regime's facilitation of illegal immigration, deepening of adversarial foreign relationships, and human rights abuses, framing those as threats to U.S. national security interests and regional stability.

Ortega rose to prominence as a leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), a guerrilla movement that overthrew the U.S.-backed Somoza family dictatorship in 1979. Nicaragua subsequently aligned with Cuba and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and nationalized banks and industry. Ortega led the country until 1990, when he accepted the results of an election in which he was voted out. He spent 16 years in opposition before being reelected in 2006.