10 de diciembre 2024
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The propaganda media network of the Daniel Ortega-Rosario Murillo dictatorship is trying to mold public opinion on the new Political Constitution of Nicaragua – approved as a “partial reform” in late November and only pending another vote in January to become the law of the land– by spinning it as an “achievement” of the people, or as a simple update.
“It's a partial reform”; “it's part of our modernization”; “the people are the ones who have the power”; “it's a reform that responds to the people's interests”; “it's direct democracy”; “it promotes gender equity” – these are just some of the claims repeated by pro-government TV channels and websites to manipulate public opinion about this reform. The changes affect more than 93% of the articles of the current constitution, and strip Nicaraguans, both inside and outside the country, of several constitutional rights and guarantees.
At the same time, the Ortega regime’s rhetoric attacks and insults those who publicly oppose the changes in the constitution, referring to these citizens as “servants,” “slaves of the oligarchs” and “slaves of the imperialists.”
“They are scandalized when we say that these lands are ours, that we are the owners of our country, and that in our country it is the glorious people who rule,” said Murillo in her monologue on November 20.
CONFIDENCIAL analyzed 36 publications –including press releases, interviews, and opinion articles– published on the main official propaganda websites between November 19, when the reform bill was presented, and November 26.
Hiding the fact that the changes are to benefit Ortega and Murillo
The predominant pattern In the propaganda campaign is a framing of the changes to the Constitution as not being that substantial, that they only provide a legal framework for the “model” that the “Ortega and Murillo presidency” was already implementing and, above all, that the reform responds to the interests of the Nicaraguan people and not their own.
The presidential couple even acknowledges, and names, what they call “vulnerable populations” –such as indigenous peoples, women, and domestic workers– in an attempt to gain empathy, maintain a discourse of gender equity, and justify the promotion of Rosario Murillo as “co-president.”
“[The reform] is an element of radical transformation, absolutely revolutionary and also innovative,” said the president of the National Assembly, Gustavo Porras, in an interview with the pro-government TV channel, Channel 4.
Known for his loyalty to Murillo, Porras is the political operator who has led a media blitz to promote the official narrative on the new Constitution. In one of his statements he even admitted that it is indeed a “new” Magna Carta.
“The reality is that this partial reform to the Constitution will, when applied, give us a new, modern Constitution, with transformations, with innovations,” said Porras, reiterating that “it responds to the interests of the people of Nicaragua.”
Constitutional reform empowers “the people,” says regime
The official narrative reveals a particular interest in convincing people that the new constitution “is by and for the people.” This phrase is repeated by the propaganda media and political operators more than 200 times. It is even written in capital letters in many of the publications, insisting that the “people” govern, decide, and even demanded these changes.
“The people exercise power directly, without intermediaries or structures that distort it,” said political operator William Grigsby, who gave his views on the reformed constitution on the pro-government Channel 4.
Murillo introduced the term “direct democracy,” which according to her, is exercised by the “people president,” to hide the fact that the reform eliminates the powers of the State and concentrates them all in the co-presidents.
In an opinion article, Harold de Jesús Delgado, the regime's ambassador to Colombia, stated that “being a modern Political Constitution, it establishes the mechanisms that ensure that life and the current world and its different manifestations are protected to guarantee security, stability, peace, trust, and economic and social growth.”
Defending Rosario Murillo and her “co-presidency”
The regime's political operators and promoters have also dedicated themselves to defending Rosario Murillo, who will hold the invented position of “co-president” when the constitutional reform receives final approval in January 2025.
“The so-called opposition, who follows the orders of their neo colonialist and imperialist masters of the Earth, show their misogynist culture by attacking the Vice President of Nicaragua, our comrade Rosario, who rejects and condemns all foreign interference in Nicaragua's internal affairs and any attempt to undermine those rights,” wrote political operator Stalin Vladímir, who posts a weekly opinion article in the government's publication, El 19 Digital.
Fidel Moreno is another political operator who has defended Murillo, doing so by citing supposed advances in gender equity.
“Without the contribution of Nicaraguan women there is no development possible, and right now, we have it as public policy, not only in leadership spaces, but in all social and economic rights. It is a central element, and of course, the Constitution must include it,” said Moreno, who is secretary general at the Managua mayor's office, the FSLN's organization secretary, and the political operator of the presidential couple in the municipalities.
The vulnerable populations that the regime names, such as women, are not only victims of machista violence, but are exposed to risk by the State itself, which forces them to mediate or release their aggressors. The same happens with indigenous communities that have been dispossessed of their properties over the years and who suffer massacres and rapes that go unpunished. The political operators of the dictatorship insist it's just the opposite, however.
Supposed recognition of vulnerable populations
“In this reform, for the first time…we are talking about the recognition of the languages of the Misquito, Garifuna, Ulwa, Creole, Creole English, Rama, and Mayangna communities,” said Lumberto Campbell, coordinator of the Secretariat for Caribbean Coast Affairs.
This is not the case, however. Article 11 of the Political Constitution of Nicaragua, in force since 1987 with various reforms, already recognizes that “Spanish is the official language of the State” and that “the languages of the Communities of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua will also have official use in the cases established by law.”
The change in the Constitution is that it now names the different languages. But this supposed recognition is no more than words, similar to how the regime does not take into account Indigenous communities when it's not in its interests to do so. In 2023, the regime belatedly carried out consultations with communities about the millionaire Bio-Clima project, which was cancelled in March 2024. The information shared with the communities was only in Spanish, despite the fact that those affected spoke only indigenous languages.
The continuing phantom of neoliberal governments
Although the so-called “partial reforms” of the Ortega government change almost the entire Constitution that has been in force since 1987, the ruling party claims it was the liberals who tried to transform it.
“There was a period when the revolution had to resist the neoliberal onslaught that tried to transform the Constitution... But they couldn't. The people preserved the Constitution and we reached the second stage of the revolution where we started to make transformations,” said Porras.
Porras didn't mention that one of the main constitutional reforms, during the Liberal governments, was promoted in the year 2000 by the infamous “pact” between Ortega and then President Arnoldo Alemán.
The main change of that reform was to the Electoral Law, reducing from 50% plus one to 35% the proportion of votes required to win the presidential election in the first round. That change allowed Ortega to return to power by obtaining 38% in the 2006 elections.
Then, eager to stay in power, Ortega attempted to reform the Constitution in 2009 to eliminate the article prohibiting presidential reelection. He didn't get the votes needed to get that change approved, so he managed to get the Supreme Court of Justice to issue a resolution to break the constitutional lock, paving the way for his reelection in 2011.
Since 2014, Ortega has reformed the Constitution nine times, with all the changes designed to benefit his own dictatorship. Meanwhile, Nicaraguans see their rights being stripped away more and more every day.
This article was published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by our staff. To get the most relevant news from our English coverage delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to The Dispatch.
