Daniel Ortega Saavedra | Notable Biographies

(1945/11/11 - Unknown)

Daniel Ortega Saavedra
Politician and Nicaraguan military, President of the Republic

He was born on November 11, 1945 in La Libertad, Department of Chontales, Nicaragua.
Son of Daniel Ortega Cerda and Lidia Saavedra, opponents to the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle.
His mother was imprisoned for being in possession of "love letters", Somoza's National Guard police estimated were missives codified policies. Had three brothers: Humberto Ortega, former general, military leader and writer; Camilo Ortega, who died in combat in 1978, and a sister, Germania, also deceased.
He was arrested for political activities, when he was 15 years old. He studied at the Universidad Centroamericana in Managua. In 1963 it abandoned law to join the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), being imprisoned in 1967 for participating in the robbery of a branch of the Bank of America brandishing a machine gun. He was released at the end of 1974, together with other Sandinista prisoners in Exchange for hostages somocistas. During his imprisonment he was severely tortured. After his release he was exiled to Cuba, where he received several months of guerrilla training. He clandestinely returned to Nicaragua, to join the FSLN and start fighting the somocista regime.
When President Anastasio Somoza was expelled by the sandinista guerrillas in Nicaragua in July 1979, was the task of governing the country to a Government of national reconstruction where Ortega served as Coordinator. Belonging to the group 'third-party claimant' of the FSLN, the more moderate faction of the three that formed during the struggle of guerrillas against Somoza, in presidential and legislative elections of 1984, was elected President.
He faced the task of rebuilding a devastated country. He sought foreign help trying to safeguard the neutral position and the mixed economy of Nicaragua. When Ronald Reagan came to the Presidency of the United States in 1981, this country's policy changed, and economic support went to the financial maneuvers and military and diplomatic, pressures among which highlighted the support provided to the counter-revolutionary guerrillas ('against') that attacked the Sandinista forces. In 1984, Ortega signed a regional peace treaty, drafted by the Contadora Group (Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela).
It was defeated by the Opposition National Union (one) coalition, led by Violeta Barrios de Chamorro in the 1990 national elections. In July 1991 he was appointed Secretary general of the FSLN, which arose again as a candidate for the Presidency of the nation in elections held in October 1996, being defeated by the conservative Arnoldo Alemán.
En las elecciones presidenciales del 5 de noviembre de 2006 fue electo como presidente de Nicaragua. El 6 de noviembre de 2011 Daniel Ortega volvió a ser reelegido presidente de Nicaragua superando al empresario radiofónico Fabio Gadea y a Arnoldo Alemán. Varios observadores electorales independientes (no acreditados por el CSE) denunciaron irregularidades durante la jornada. Un segundo mandato consecutivo que le deja manos libres para apuntalar su modelo político autoritario y populista. El 10 de enero de 2012 fue investido presidente de Nicaragua con un amplio control del Congreso y en presencia de estrechos aliados como el mandatario iraní Mahmud Ahmadinejad y el venezolano Hugo Chávez. El líder del Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) gobierna por segundo periodo consecutivo contando con 63 de los 92 diputados de la legislatura.
Casado en 1979 con Rosario Murillo Zambrana (Managua, 22 de junio de 1951), profesora, escritora y activista nicaragüense. Asesora del Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) en Prensa y Comunicación. Preside el Consejo de Comunicación y Ciudadanía del Poder Ciudadano.