Senior US official Brian Nichols denounced that the “corrupt” National Assembly of Nicaragua seeks to modify the country's Constitution to “consolidate more power” in the hands of Daniel Ortega and his wife.
The United States government condemned on Thursday the intention of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega to reform his country's Constitution to create the figure of “co-president”, which would be occupied by his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, and extend the period of government of the national representative for at least one more year.
“We condemn the maneuvers of the corrupt National Assembly of Nicaragua to change, without review or debate, the Constitution in order to consolidate more power in the hands of Ortega and Murillo,” published in X the Under Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the United States, Brian Nichols.
In his message, Nichols considered that the Ortega government “will use that power to oppress Nicaraguans and further isolate Nicaragua from the international community.”
The day before, it was learned that Ortega sent to the National Assembly on Tuesday a proposal to reform a hundred articles of the Political Constitution of Nicaragua to extend the presidential term from five to six years and create the figure of “co-president.” and “co-president”, positions that would be elected “through universal suffrage.”
The parliament, with a pro-government majority, is expected to soon debate the initiative, which was branded “aberrant” by the secretary general of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro.
For the president of the National Assembly, the ruling party Gustavo Porras, it is a “modernization” of the constitution.