3 min de lectura
Many of the lessons fit into the category of cautionary tales. For example, when Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega was voted out of office in 1990, he vowed to “govern from below” with the help of party loyalists. For the next 16 years, Ortega worked as an outside powerbroker and rabble-rouser to undermine democratically elected presidents and paralyze the nation. Ortega eventually paved the way for his own return to the presidency in 2007, after which he quickly consolidated a new Sandinista dictatorship.
“The lesson learned from Nicaragua’s failed transition to democracy is this: To be successful, the new administration will need strong popular support to withstand the attacks from the fanatics of the old regime,” says Félix Maradiaga, Director of Nicaragua’s Instituto de Estudios Estratégicos (IEEPP). The ousted authoritarian, Maradiaga warned, will do everything in his power to keep the country violently polarized because reconciliation is fundamental to a functioning democracy.