In the months preceding Sunday's election, Western and many anti-Left Latin American nations had expressed deep concern about the fairness of the vote as Ortega detained opponents and business leaders. President Ortega and the other senior leaders said, on the other hand, that many of the opposition leaders conspired against the pro-people regime and they were funded by the American corporates and the agencies. Ortega was specific about the Nicaraguan exiles in Costa Rica who were in the forefront in the movement for ousting Ortega regime.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said his country will work with other democratic governments and was ready to use a range of tools, including possible sanctions, visa restrictions and coordinated actions against those it said were complicit in supporting the Nicaragua government's "undemocratic acts". This threat had little impact on the common voters who were looking for relief from the Ortega government.

A statement by all 27 EU members accused Ortega of "systematic incarceration, harassment and intimidation" of opponents, journalists and activists. The elections "complete the conversion of Nicaragua into an autocratic regime," the EU said. Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Spain and Britain called for detained opposition leaders to be freed. "Elections were neither free, nor fair, nor competitive," said Jose Manuel Albares, Spain's foreign minister.

In a speech that lasted more than an hour on Monday evening, Ortega fired back against the United States and Europe, labeling them "Yankee imperialists." "They wanted to be at the head of the Supreme Electoral Council... counting the votes of the Nicaraguans," Ortega said, addressing supporters from Revolution Square in Managua. "That won't happen again in Nicaragua. Never again, never again." Of his jailed opponents, Ortega said, "They are not Nicaraguans, they have no homeland." Cuba, Venezuela and Russia all offered Ortega their backing.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said U.S. calls for countries not to recognize the outcome were "unacceptable." Argentina's foreign ministry said it was concerned over the arrest of opposition leaders, but said it maintained its diplomatic tradition of "non-interference in internal matters in other nations."

Mexico's foreign ministry said it would not comment on the election until official results were posted. Mexico maintained a critical view of Ortega's jailing of opponents but backed non-intervention in Nicaragua's affairs, a Mexican official said.. However hardcore leftwing governments in Latin America are supporting President Ortega as they apprehend the same type of American sanctions and interventions in their internal affairs.

A former Marxist rebel who helped topple the right-wing Somoza family dictatorship in the late 1970s, Ortega says he is defending Nicaragua against unscrupulous adversaries bent on ousting him with the aid of foreign powers. His government has passed a series of laws that make it easy to prosecute opponents for crimes such as "betraying the homeland."

According to the People’s World correspondent Christian Guevara who extensively covered poll campaign in Nicaragua in the recent polls, President Daniel Ortega does not fall in line with U.S. economic interests—which would still prefer to see Nicaragua be a neo-colony where U.S. companies can exploit low-wage workers and destroy the environment for profit. The U.S. State Department and mainstream corporate media have been in a frenzy over the past year, blowing up accusations of “political prisoners” in Nicaragua—accusations that local Nicaraguans find laughable.

The most famous of these “political prisoners” is Cristiana Chamorro, an extravagantly wealthy Nicaraguan oligarch and owner of right-wing news outlet La Prensa. Chamorro has a long history with Ortega’s party, the Sandinista Front for National Liberation Front (FSLN). During the Contra War of the late 1970s and into the ’80s, La Prensa was funded by the CIA and used as a tool for the U.S. government to spread propaganda to undermine Ortega when he was president then. Before that, the U.S. also supported and funded dictatorAnastasio Somoza’s terrorist war on the Nicaraguans that killed over 80,000 people.

Nowadays, La Prensa is not funded by the CIA, as far as is known. It is, however, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, a U.S. front group created to destabilize anti-imperialist governments and impose the U.S.’ political will on poor countries. Despite the ridiculous lies of Nicaraguan business and corporate media, Chamorro is not imprisoned for being an “opposition candidate.” Interestingly, she was never even officially running for president—even U.S. news outlets have used the phrase “pre-candidate” to describe her “campaign.”

Chamorro’s problems with the legal system long pre-date the current election, however. She was caught laundering money from Nicaraguan non-profits and using the funds (as well as U.S. money) to attempt a coup in 2018 that led to the deaths of over 300 people, the majority of whom were Sandinista supporters. These details seem to have been missed by the U.S. State Department and “accredited” news outlets.

As for the accusation that Ortega is a dictator, the charge is a common one made against any leader that doesn’t fall in line with U.S. hegemony, especially those who enjoy mass support from their own people. However, leftwing observers of Latin America point out that President Ortega in his fourth term must be more pragmatic and try to bring in the other pro-left forces which his regime, has alienated in the recent months through anti-democratic activities. The Sandinista leadership should also see that the regimes of Mexico, Argentina and Peru can have normal relations with Nicaragua.

The Latin American region is undergoing political ferment as the rightwing forces are getting mobilized to take on the Left. Very recently the left won in Peru with President Castillo firmly in saddle now. Presidential elections to Chile and Honduras are due for November 21. In Chile, the left wing candidate is the frontrunner. In Honduras, the incumbent right wing candidate is in a comfortable position. In 2022, Brazil is going for Presidential elections. So the functioning of Ortega regime will have some impact on the Left movement in Latin America in general. That way President Ortega has to be more responsible in his new tenure. He should not convey the impression that he is an autocrat. (IPA Service)