Five years since a crackdown began, what’s next for Nicaragua?

Daniel Ortega is one of Latin America’s greatest political survivors.

The left-wing rebel leader who seized power after toppling a right-wing US-backed government in 1979 accepted defeat in a 1990 election. But he was re-elected as president in 2006 and has held the highest office ever since after three more elections . . During this time he was accused of increasing repression and was exiled by the US and its Western allies.

Demonstrations that began five years ago marked the beginning of the crackdown on dissent — with more than 300 dead and tens of thousands leaving the country.

Ortega has also moved closer to China and Russia. What’s next for Nicaragua?

Presenter:

Folly Bah Thibault

Guests:

Ben Norton – Investigative journalist and editor-in-chief of Geopolitical Economy Report, a Nicaraguan news website, in Managua

Astrid Montealegre – Supervisory Attorney for the Nicaraguan American Human Rights Alliance, in Los Angeles

Dan Kovalik – human rights attorney and author of Nicaragua: A History of U.S. Intervention and Resistance, in Pittsburgh