Nicaraguan dictator calls Bolsonaro a fascist and uses attack in Brasilia to justify persecution

The dictator of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, cited, this Monday (9), the invasion of the headquarters of the Three Powers in Brasília by Bolsonarists as an attempt to justify the persecution of opponents in the country that he has led since 2007.

In his first speech of the year, during the opening ceremony of the legislative year, Ortega mentioned the invasion of the Capitol in 2021 in the USA, a scene that was repeated in Brazil this weekend. Referring to the arrests of those involved in the two acts, the dictator argued that in both countries “the freedom of the coup plotters is not asked for” —a rhetorical jugglery to try to equate his opponents with extremists.

“I was watching it on television and it seemed unbelievable. The same scheme as in the United States. Just as thousands of Americans from the Republican Party launched themselves to take over Congress, Bolsonaro’s launched themselves. Bolsonaro is a military fascist,” he said.

Ortega also cited the cases of Peru and Bolivia, which are going through political and social crises, to affirm that fascism “is reinstalling itself in the world.” “Imperialism is conspiring, investing millions to provoke the attempted coup d’état,” he said. “We must firmly defend justice and its application against criminals.”

Approximately 235 opponents are imprisoned in Nicaragua, of which more than 40 have been sentenced to sentences of up to 13 years in prison. They are accused of crimes such as conspiracy, attack on national integrity and other acts in detriment of the State. According to the dictator, not even life imprisonment “can compensate for the damage caused to Nicaragua by the coup plotters”.

In 2021, seven opposition presidential candidates were arrested before the facade election that reappointed Ortega for his fourth consecutive term.

In addition to them, Sandinista businessmen, journalists, clerics and dissidents, whom the regime labels “terrorists, coup plotters and criminals”, have been arrested and persecuted in the country since 2018, when a reform of the social security system triggered massive protests.

“Terrorists are always conspiring and are funded by the US government and European governments,” said Ortega, once again associating anti-demonstrations in his country with a failed coup d’état promoted by the opposition and supported by Washington.

The Nicaraguan also called on his supporters to “work with energy, firmness, discipline, but sleep with one eye open and the other closed because the bugs are on the loose.”