They warn: Reform of the Nicaraguan Constitution would destroy the rule of law

The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president Rosario Murillo announced on Wednesday, November 20, a reform of the Nicaraguan Constitution that would give Murillo the position of “Co-president”, would make both “coordinators” of the three powers of the state and would establish the red-and-black Sandinista flag as a national symbol, among many other measures, something that has received rejection from Nicaraguan and international figures and institutions.

“Ortega and Murillo consolidate a totalitarian regime in Nicaragua with a reform that eliminates rights, militarizes the State and persecutes opponents. They institutionalize nepotism and repression, destroying the rule of law. Democracy faces its greatest threat. #SOSNicaragua,” the Nicaraguan University Alliance (AUN) noted in X, which defines itself as “organized young people, working on the construction of a new Nicaragua.”

According to the BBCthe reform was presented to the National Assembly for urgent processing and where 75 of the 91 deputies are from the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), a left-wing party to which Ortega and Murillo belong.

The reform, which could be approved on Friday, November 22 according to what was declared by the president of the assembly, Gustavo Porras, would affect more than 100 articles of the current Constitution that the Ortega dictatorship has already amended 12 times since 2007, when returned to power and has not left since.

Another reform would be the extension of the mandate of the co-presidents from 5 to 6 years.

These changes would also allow public officials who do not agree with the “fundamental principles” of the dictatorship to be fired; and would further limit freedom of expression, if it transgresses “the right of another person, of the community and the principles of security, peace and well-being established in the Constitution.”

The danger for the Catholic Church and other confessions

Martha Patricia Molina, author of the report Nicaragua: A persecuted Church? – which in its latest edition reports 870 attacks by the dictatorship against the Catholic Church in the Central American country between 2018 and 2024 – explained to ACI Prensa that there are also religious issues in the reforms.

In the reform, article 5 specifies seven times stipulates that “freedom of worship, religious faith and practice is ensured in strict separation between the State and the churches”, while Article 5 oches establishes that “all types of political, military, economic, cultural and religious aggression are inhibited and proscribed.”

Article 14 mandate It states in the reform that “the State is secular and ensures freedom of worship, faith and religious practices in strict separation of the State and the churches.” It also establishes that “under the protection of religion, no person or organization can carry out activities that violate public order” and that “religious organizations must remain free of all foreign control.”

Article 69 further states that: “all people have the individual or collective right to express their religious beliefs in private or public with respect to the fundamental principles established in the Constitution.”

For the lawyer and researcher, “the reforms propose a definitive break between the Pope, Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church and the Nicaraguan Catholic Church. With these reforms, a parallel church that is not in communion with the Pope can be created.”

Furthermore, he warns, “everything that is proposed in the constitutional reform will have to be regulated and developed in specific laws.”

In conclusion, Martha Patricia Molina warns, “the discretionary power enjoyed by the Ortega-Murillo dictators will consider any opinion issued by Pope Francis as aggression, foreign cardinals or bishops and the dictators of Nicaragua will be able to execute necessary actions to guarantee full compliance with that provision”.

The OAS repudiation of the reform of the Nicaraguan Constitution

The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) published in its website a statement in which it “rejects and repudiates the initiative for a ‘reform law’ of the Constitution presented by the Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega.”

“Through these modifications to the fundamental norm, Ortega and his allies seek to increase their absolute control of the State and perpetuate themselves in power,” warns the international organization.

“The reform document is illegitimate in form and content, it merely constitutes an aberrant form of institutionalization of the matrimonial dictatorship in the Central American country and is a definitive attack on the Democratic Rule of Law,” the text continues.

The statement also highlights that “the people of Nicaragua need peace, democracy and respect for Human Rights, they need authentic, legitimate, universal and free elections. “The Nicaraguan People need the end of the dictatorship.”

Félix Maradiaga, former political prisoner and former presidential candidate now in exile, denounced that the constitutional reform initiative “represents an attack on democracy and fundamental rightsconsolidating the power of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.”

“The establishment of Murillo’s ‘co-presidency’, the criminalization of the opposition as ‘treason to the country’ and the absolute control of the Executive reinforce an authoritarian regime. Despite this, the commitment to the fight for freedom and democracy in the country is reaffirmed,” said the also president of the Freedom for Nicaragua Foundation, in his X account.

Juan Sebastián Chamorro, economist, businessman and former presidential candidate in 2021, considered that the new Magna Carta could be considered a “despotic Constitution. “Only that can be called that mammoth Constitution that will come into force next year.”

“We should not normalize that what is there is simply the officialization of what Ortega and Murillo already do. We must use precisely all the violations, all the irregularities of this despotic Constitution as elements, as banners of struggle to restore the principles of democracy, independence of powers, justice and freedom that are being eliminated,” Chamorro encouraged in his count of.

UPDATED AT 15:00 GMT-5: Martha Patricia Molina’s statements were added