# Daniel Ortega ## Identity and office Daniel Ortega has been president of Nicaragua since 10 January 2007 and co-president with Rosario Murillo since the 2025 reform. As of September 2026 he remains in office. Murillo is named as an unresolved person candidate. This run does not mint a page for her. He is not a Sandinista saint. On 7 November 2021 CSE announced a win after opposition candidates were jailed. On 9 February 2023 the government flew 222 prisoners to the United States and stripped nationality ([Reuters, 9 February 2023](https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/nicaragua-sends-222-political-prisoners-united-states-2023-02-09/)). Bishop Rolando Álvarez refused that flight. On 10 February a Managua court sentenced him to 26 years, declared him a traitor, and stripped nationality. GHREN’s 23 September 2025 report documented 452 court-ordered nationality deprivations since February 2023 ([GHREN PDF](https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/grhe-nicaragua/2025-09-23-ghren-transnational-violations-en.pdf)). Quote 452 as GHREN. Do not invent a higher or lower total. On 14 January 2024 Managua announced that Álvarez, Bishop Isidoro Mora, 15 priests and two seminarians would travel to the Vatican after coordination with the Holy See ([Reuters, 14 January 2024](https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nicaragua-expels-catholic-bishop-alvarez-priests-amid-crackdown-2024-01-14/); [AP](https://apnews.com/article/nicaragua-ortega-imprisoned-priests-released-1af8f2311cf8f4e6e8e2e01569036b87)). Vatican News recorded them as guests. Álvarez remains an unresolved person candidate. On 30 January 2025 the [National Assembly](/organizations/national-assembly) gave final approval to constitutional reforms creating co-presidents, extending the term to six years, and empowering the executive to coordinate other organs ([Reuters, 30 January 2025](https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/nicaragua-congress-gives-final-approval-sweeping-constitutional-reforms-2025-01-30/); [AP](https://apnews.com/article/nicaragua-daniel-ortega-rosario-murillo-b5f119ea8bee27c48b2fdd70710c70dd)). In force 18 February 2025. A July 2026 speech that there would be “no more elections” is neighbouring recorded speech. 2018 protest deaths are a parent wave. IACHR and GIEI printed findings. This page does not invent a unique 2018 body-count as Contribution.size. ## Documented benefits The offsets that a commissioned-positive portrait would lead with are real only where dated and are mostly a different decade. 1980s literacy and vaccination campaigns are neighbouring historical instruments, not a rebate of 9 February 2023. A 222 “release” that is an expulsion is not an amnesty. ## Contributions and limits of responsibility He is co-president. Assembly votes and expulsion communiqués are Ortega-dated. Sharing a household with Murillo is not a reason to drop those rows. It is a reason not to mint her. Sharing a recognition neighbourhood with Maduro is not a reason to hang Venezuelan CNE nights as his. ## Causal chain through facts 7 November 2021 weakens electoral integrity. 9 February 2023 and 14 January 2024 weaken [civic space](/drivers/civic-space) and strengthen family autocracy. 30 January 2025 weakens capacity for peaceful transfer. None hang on [territorial-revisionism](/drivers/territorial-revisionism), ukraine-war, or Soviet-scope rows. ## What the score does not say This page does not promise an exact number. Direction is negative: denationalisation-as-exile, church expulsion, co-presidency. Rosario Murillo, Rolando Álvarez, and Dora María Téllez remain names on this file, not invented biographies. ## Dated facts - 2025: National Assembly gives final approval to co-presidency and a six-year term. https://factrail.ai/facts/ni-ortega-copresidency-2025. Sources: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/nicaragua-congress-gives-final-approval-sweeping-constitutional-reforms-2025-01-30/, https://www.asamblea.gob.ni/. - 2024: Managua expels Bishop Álvarez and 18 clergy to the Vatican after a 26-year sentence. https://factrail.ai/facts/ni-ortega-alvarez-2024. Sources: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nicaragua-expels-catholic-bishop-alvarez-priests-amid-crackdown-2024-01-14/, https://www.asamblea.gob.ni/. - 2023: Nicaragua flies 222 prisoners to the United States and strips nationality. https://factrail.ai/facts/ni-ortega-222-2023. Sources: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/grhe-nicaragua/2025-09-23-ghren-transnational-violations-en.pdf, https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/nicaragua-sends-222-political-prisoners-united-states-2023-02-09/, https://www.asamblea.gob.ni/. - 2022: Nicaragua repression of Catholic Church figures. https://factrail.ai/facts/ni-ortega-catholic-church-repression-2022-23. - 2021: CSE announces Ortega’s re-election after opposition candidates were jailed. https://factrail.ai/facts/ni-ortega-cse-2021. Sources: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ortega-poised-win-nicaragua-election-condemned-farce-2021-11-08/, https://www.cse.gob.ni/. - Nicaragua 2018 protest crackdown under Ortega–Murillo. https://factrail.ai/facts/ni-ortega-murillo-crackdown-2018. Sources: https://www.reuters.com/article/world/fifteen-killed-in-nicaragua-protests-including-mothers-day-march-attack-idUSKCN1IX39I/, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2018/08/nicaragua-human-rights-crisis-demands-action-and-accountability-un-report. ## Methodology https://factrail.ai/methodology Canonical: https://factrail.ai/people/daniel-ortega