Nicaragua's Ortega offers Maduro “Sandinista” fighters after controversial election

CNN
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Nicaragua's strongman, President Daniel Ortega, has offered to send “Sandinista fighters” to Venezuela to support his embattled authoritarian co-ruler Nicolás Maduro in the event of an attempted “armed counterrevolution” following the disputed presidential election in July.

Maduro has been under pressure since his election victory declaration sparked widespread distrust among the opposition and abroad. Thousands of Venezuelans have since taken to the streets in protest, and at least 24 civilians and one soldier have been killed in political violence. Government security forces have arrested at least 2,000 opposition sympathizers.

At a virtual summit with heads of state from other Latin American countries on Monday, Ortega offered Maduro his support in the event of an “armed counterrevolution” and assured him that they (Maduro's government) would be accompanied by Sandinista fighters in the event of a “battle”.

In Nicaragua, “Sandinista” generally refers to members of the left-wing political movement, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which came to power in the Nicaraguan Revolution in the late 1970s. Ortega's party is the FSLN.

However, Ortega did not say whether the culprits were police officers, military personnel or pro-government armed groups accused by human rights groups of taking crackdowns alongside police in Nicaragua. Ortega denied any connection to these groups.

CNN has contacted the Nicaraguan government for comment.

Ortega also criticized other leaders of Latin American countries, including Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (also known as Lula) and Colombia's Gustavo Petro – both leftists – for not recognizing Maduro as the winner of his third consecutive six-year term. The Nicaraguan ruler himself is already in his fifth term as president and has been accused of electoral fraud in the past.

During the summit, Ortega said it was “shameful” that Lula had not recognized Maduro and accused him of “dragging” to the US. The president made similar comments about Colombia's Petro.

Petro responded to Ortega in a post on X, saying: “At least I do not discriminate against the human rights of the people of my country, and certainly not those of my brothers in arms and those who fight against dictatorships.”

CNN has asked the Brazilian Foreign Ministry for comment.

According to Venezuela's Electoral Council, which is controlled by government supporters, Maduro won re-election with just over 50% of the vote. However, the country's opposition coalition, as well as election observers from the United Nations and the Carter Center, have questioned the council's figures. The US, EU and several other countries and multilateral institutions have called on Venezuela to release detailed data on results by polling station.

Meanwhile, Venezuela's opposition has released more than 80 percent of the results printed and collected from voting machines across the country, about 25,000 documents in total. Although this meticulous documentation is incomplete, it appears to show that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia did indeed defeat Maduro, several experts told CNN.