The Parliament of Nicaragua passes a law that annuls the electoral possibilities of the opposition

Sandinista deputy Wálmaro Gutiérrez, one of Ortega's loyal operators, after the vote on the law that inhibits the opposition from participating in the elections scheduled for next year.Jorge Torres / EFE

The president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, has given a new blow to the Nicaraguan opposition, with the expeditious approval this Monday of the

Law for the defense of the rights of the people to independence, sovereignty and self-determination for peace

, with the that completely cancels the political competition for the elections scheduled for November 2021, a process considered key to resolving the political crisis that this Central American country has suffered since 2018.

The Executive sent the bill last Friday.

The National Assembly - faithful to Ortega - urgently called a special session during its year-end vacations to approve this regulation that prevents any opponent considered a “coup plotter” from running for office.

The rule also opens the possibility to criminally prosecute opponents.

"They will be traitors to the homeland, so they will not be able to run for popularly elected positions, this without prejudice to the corresponding criminal actions established in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Nicaragua, for acts of treason, crimes that compromise peace , and crimes against the political Constitution of the Republic of Nicaragua ”, reads the law approved with 70 votes.

According to the regime, accused of committing crimes against humanity, citizens who request or promote social protests, as well as international sanctions against the Sandinista regime, will commit acts considered "coup d'état."

This new law joins another trident of laws approved in the final stretch of 2020, all aimed at silencing and penalizing dissent - including journalists - with fines, prison terms, and even life imprisonment.

Those three laws are "Cybercrime", "Foreign Agents" and life imprisonment for "hate crimes."

Now these laws, together with the most recent one, form a scaffolding that gives legal support to the rhetoric and repression that the Ortega government maintains in Nicaragua, especially with a de facto police state and political trials, according to opponents.

This new law completely buries the national and international demand for a competitive and credible electoral process.

But it also reaffirms the will of the regime to remain in power, regardless of the allegations of human rights violations in general.

According to the law, opponents who are branded by the Government as "coup plotters", traitors who "celebrate sanctions from foreign governments" and funders of "coups" will not be able to "run for popularly elected positions."

“If Nicaragua had room for a law like the one Daniel Ortega ordered to be approved, the first one that would have to be applied is him.

For all the violations it has committed and the damage it has caused;

he should be the first inhibited person to run for public office, ”criticized Juan Sebastián Chamorro, a member of the opposition Civic Alliance, and one of the critics permanently watched by the police.

“The biggest coup d'état has been Ortega by eliminating the institutions in Nicaragua.

He has proclaimed himself dictator ”, added the opponent.

With the elections looming, the demand is that the Government carry out profound reforms that give the process a minimum of credibility, after repeated complaints of electoral fraud in Nicaragua, with which Ortega consolidated his all-embracing power.

The inhibition of the opponents not only criminalizes possible candidates, but once again places Ortega before an election without competition.

The law was approved the same day the United States sanctioned three other Sandinista officials.

Those sanctioned by the North American Treasury are Congressman Wálmaro Gutiérrez, promoter of the Law for the Regulation of Foreign Agents;

the Chief of Police in the department of León, Commissioner General Fidel Domínguez, accused of committing acts of abuse of authority and directing the repression against opponents in that city;

and the vice president of the Supreme Court of Justice, Magistrate Marvin Aguilar, a unit in charge of convicting opponents.