MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nicaraguan guerrilla fighter Humberto Ortega, a Sandinista defense minister who later in life became a critic of his older brother President Daniel Ortega, died Monday at 77, Nicaragua's army said.
The younger Ortega became the head of the Sandinista army and the country’s defense minister after the overthrow of dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979. Later in life, Humberto Ortega publicly criticized some actions of his brother’s increasingly repressive administrations.
He had been ill and effectively under house arrest for some time. He died Monday at a military hospital, the Nicaraguan military posted on social media.
A cause of death was not provided, but a government statement said he had had a prolonged illness. It also praised his bravery in “revolutionary military actions.”
Local media reported in May that police had surrounded Humberto Ortega’s home, the same day online news outlet Infobae published a lengthy interview with him, in which he discussed his at times tense relationship with his brother.
He also characterized his brother’s current administration as “authoritarian, dictatorial” in explaining that when the leader of such a government dies, it is very difficult for there to be continuity with the immediate group in power.
At the time, police said in a statement that the Health Ministry had visited 77-year-old Humberto Ortega, who suffered from heart problems, in his home and evaluated his health without ever saying why he was under police guard.
Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro expressed his condolences in a statement, praising Humberto Ortega as a freedom fighter.
Dissident and former presidential hopeful turned political exile Juan Sebastián Chamorro told the Associated Press “the legacy of Humberto Ortega is intrinsically linked with the war.” While Chamorro blamed the government for contributing to Ortega's death, he said he also had a hand in the state of the country today.
“He has a lot of responsibility, above all what has happened in the past 40-some years, and particularly in was policy that brought a lot death and destruction to the country,” Chamorro said.
The younger Ortega joined the fighters of the Sandinista National Liberation Front and was wounded in the arm in 1969 during an operation to free Carlos Fonseca, the Sandinista commander, from a Costa Rican prison.
When the revolution succeeded in overthrowing dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979, Humberto Ortega was made the head of the Sandinista army and defense minister.
He made military service obligatory and would later say in interviews that he had mobilized more than 320,000 young recruits as the Sandinistas battled the United States-backed “Contra” rebels in a war that began in 1981 and ended in 1990, leaving at least 35,000 dead.
Even after his brother’s surprising election loss to Violeta Chamorro in 1990, Humberto Ortega stayed on as leader of Nicaragua’s army for another five years, professionalizing its ranks and making it subordinate to civilian leadership.
Humberto Ortega’s political thinking evolved as he moved from guerilla fighter to businessman. In 1981, he threatened to “hang the bourgeoisie from the light posts,” but by 1996 he was defending his fortune saying he wasn’t going to leave government “on a bicycle.”
After his retirement in 1995, he split time between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, focusing on his business interests and penning essays that advocated a more centrist position and a national conciliation government.
Humberto Ortega’s more moderate positions eventually became uncomfortable for his brother who returned to the presidency in 2007.
When widespread street protests in April 2018 became demonstrations against Daniel Ortega’s government, the president responded with brutal repression from the police and paramilitary forces. Humberto Ortega called for an end to the use of paramilitaries and accused security forces of “indiscriminate repression” that left at least 355 dead.
“The army must speak with Daniel Ortega” to control the situation, Humberto Ortega said in a local interview at the time.
In 2019, Humberto Ortega spoke out again after the arrest of some 168 opposition figures. His brother responded publicly, saying “some traitors and sellouts who had said that there wouldn’t be enough lightposts to hang all of the rich, now come out saying that these gentlemen are not terrorists.”
In February 2022, he also criticized his brother’s administration with the death of former guerrilla and retired general Hugo Torres after eight months in a notorious Managua prison. Torres had split from Ortega’s government years earlier and was an outspoken critic. Humberto Ortega wrote in a local news outlet that Torres had died at age 73 in a “cruel imprisonment.”
President Ortega visited his younger brother in December, according to a government report that described his condition as serious.
The younger Ortega, author of several books of history and military strategy, had suffered from heart problems and was hospitalized in October 2021.
AP reporter Megan Janetsky and former reporter Gabriela Selser contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
FILE - General Humberto Ortega, head of the Nicaraguan Army, confirms the announcement of his retirement from the army at the presidential house in Managua, Nicaragua, May 18, 1994. (AP Photo/Mark Hume, File)
Israel's prime minister issued a warning to Iran Monday, just days after an airstrike south of Beirut killed the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah group, which is backed by Tehran.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “there is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach.” Later Monday, officials in Washington confirmed Israeli troops were conducting small raids across the border in Lebanon, but provided no details.
Hezbollah’s acting leader promised the group will fight on following the death Friday of its long-time chief Hassan Nasrallah. Israel has also assassinated several of the group’s top commanders in recent days. Naim Kassem said in a televised statement that if Israel launches a ground offensive, the group’s fighters are ready. He said the commanders killed have already been replaced.
An airstrike early Monday hit an apartment building in central Beirut — the first to hit in the heart of the Lebanese capital in nearly a year of conflict — and killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small, leftist Palestinian faction. Another Israeli airstrike early Monday killed six people, including two sisters and a child, in central Gaza, Palestinian officials said.
Here is the latest:
WASHINGTON — United States Secretary of State Lloyd Austin told Israel’s defense minister that he agreed on the need for a ground offensive inside Lebanon to rid the border area of Hezbollah weapons and other means it can use to carry out attacks across the frontier.
Austin told Yoav Gallant in a call that the U.S. supports Israel’s right to defend itself and discussed Israel’s military operations.
Israeli ground forces moved into southern Lebanon overnight, marking a significant escalation of an offensive against Hezbollah. The Israeli military said Tuesday it has begun a “limited” ground operation against Hezbollah targets it said posed an “immediate threat” to northern Israeli communities.
“We agreed on the necessity of dismantling attack infrastructure along the border,” Austin said in a statement posted on the X social platform.
The Israeli military says it has begun a “limited, localized” operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.
It said it was carrying out “targeted ground raids” in villages close to the Israeli border. The targets, it said, pose an “immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel.”
It announced early Tuesday that the operation has been planned in recent months and was launched after approval by political leaders.
BAGHDAD — A missile attack has targeted a U.S. military facility near the Baghdad airport, two Iraqi security officials said.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said one rocket fell in an adjacent area used by Iraqi security forces and damaged vehicle parked there.
No casualties were reported in the attack early Tuesday. Air traffic was halted as a result of the strike.
U.S. officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment and no group claimed responsibility.
Iran-backed Iraqi militias have regularly targeted bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq over the past year, which they have said is a response to Washington’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas and Hezbollah in Gaza and Lebanon.
Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.
BEIRUT — The Israeli military has issued new instructions ordering residents of three buildings in south Beirut to evacuate immediately.
Israel has carried out a number of airstrikes in the Dahiyeh area in recent days, accusing the Hezbollah militant group of hiding weapons in local buildings.
“You are present near assets and warehouses belonging to Hezbollah terrorists, and so the IDF will act against them with force,” the army said in a message posted on the social platform X.
It called on residents to move at least 500 meters (550 yards) from the buildings “for your safety and the safety of your family.”
Airstrikes could be heard throughout Beirut and smoke rose from areas in the city's southern suburbs a little more than an hour after the Israeli military issued the evacuation order.
UNITED NATIONS — Humanitarian officials are assessing the damage from Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s main port of Hodeida, a key delivery point for aid and commercial goods to the Arab world’s poorest nation.
United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Monday that the U.N. is also trying to work out the impact of Sunday’s airstrikes on its ability to deliver humanitarian goods and fuel to the country.
The U.N. humanitarian office “warns that disruption to the flow of imports which go through Hodeida and surrounding areas could have dire consequences for Yemen’s population,” Dujarric said.
The U.N. isn’t aware of anything going through the port now, he said.
Dujarric said the United Nations is concerned about the Israeli airstrikes and previous attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Israel.
International experts reported in August that famine is looming in four districts in Yemen, and all 117 districts in government-controlled areas are expected to suffer from “serious” levels of acute malnutrition. The report reflects the worsening food insecurity since Yemen plunged into civil war in 2014, when Iran-backed Houthi rebels took control of the capital, Sanaa, and much of the north, forcing the government to flee to Saudi Arabia.
The war has killed more than 150,000 people and caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. In recent years, it has deteriorated largely into a stalemate.
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations chief is calling for de-escalation and a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon, saying civilians are suffering the brunt of the increasing violence.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ appeal for “diplomatic avenues to be given space” was delivered by U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Monday.
Israel’s escalating airstrikes have affected about one million people and about 100,000 have fled to neighboring Syria, Dujarric said.
He said the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, has been unable to deploy its troops from their bases because of the intensity of the fighting.
On the humanitarian front, the United Nations plans to launch an emergency appeal on Tuesday to help meet the needs of the one million people affected by the violence, Dujarric said.
The U.N. World Food Program has delivered food to more than 65,000 people in shelters in recent days, and the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has opened seven emergency shelters that are accommodating 1,400 people.
SOFIA, Bulgaria — A Bulgarian government jet has returned to Sofia with 89 nationals who were evacuated from Lebanon.
Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev, who welcomed them at the Sofia Airport on Monday, said the government was discussing all options for future evacuations.
“We will evacuate the Bulgarians from Lebanon in the safest way, regardless of the cost. The most important thing is that it is done in the most secure and safe way. There is nothing more expensive than human life,” Glavchev said.
According to Deputy Foreign Minister Elena Shekerletova, 160 out of about 400 Bulgarians who live in Lebanon have said they want to be evacuated.
“More than half arrived on the first flight, while more requests have been processed. A new flight will be scheduled as soon as a group is assembled, and travel is safe,” Shekerletova said at the airport.
“In less than 24 hours, our embassy organized an evacuation, including for the baby who had no documents,” said 38-year-old mother of two Jana Sharaf, holding her 20-day-old infant.
“On Tuesday the bombing started and very quickly it became very scary, very bad. We didn’t know where the bombs would fall, what they were targeting. It was very scary.”
JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military has declared three communities along Israel’s northern border to be a “closed military zone,” in a possible precursor to a ground invasion of Lebanon.
The order Monday restricts entry and exit from the communities to military forces only. The towns are Metula, Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi.
The order does not necessarily mean that Israeli troops will invade Lebanon immediately. Areas can also be declared closed military zones if an imminent threat is detected.
But the Israeli army has heavily beefed up forces along the border with Lebanon in recent days, and commanders have said they are prepared to send in forces if the government gives the order.
BRUSSELS — European Union foreign ministers are calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah and have expressed support for U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.
“Arms should now be silenced, and the voice of diplomacy should speak and be heard by all,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters after chairing an emergency meeting Monday.
“The sovereignty of both Israel and Lebanon has to be guaranteed,” Borrell said. “Any further military intervention would dramatically aggravate the situation and has to be avoided.”
Borrell said ministers of the 27-nation EU discussed the need for increased humanitarian aid and close coordination “to be prepared for any emergency situation.”
Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said he and his counterparts discussed possibly evacuating European nationals from Lebanon.
Both underlined the importance of the peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL. “The safety and security of U.N. peacekeepers is paramount,” Borrell said.
WASHINGTON — Israel has launched small, precision raids across the border in Lebanon and a larger ground operation is being planned, according to two officials.
It was not clear if Israel had made a final decision on a broader operation. The Israeli military did not comment.
The U.S. official and the Western official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
It was not clear what the small ground raids entailed and there have been no reports of direct clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants on Lebanese soil.
Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Samy Magdy contributed to this report.
LONDON — Relatives of some of the Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza say they fear Israel’s strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon will further delay a deal that could lead to their loved ones' release.
“It takes away from the hostages,” Sharone Lifschitz said during a news conference Monday in London.
She continued, “If there is a ground incursion, then they are telling us nothing will happen for two weeks or three weeks or five weeks.”
Lifschitz's parents were kidnapped when Hamas-backed militants raided southern Israel on Oct. 7. Her mother, Yocheved, was freed in November but her father, Oded, is still being held.
Relatives of hostages with connections to the U.K. held a private meeting Monday with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy in hopes of increasing pressure for the hostages’ release.
Stephen Brisley’s sister Lianne Sharab and two nieces were killed by Hamas on Oct. 7, and his brother-in-law Eli Sharabi is a hostage. He says the Israeli government insists the hostages are its top priority, but “that’s not the impression I get at the moment.”
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Yemen’s Houthi rebels say they shot down another American-made MQ-9 Reaper drone over the country, with videos purportedly showing a surface-to-air missile striking it.
Responding to queries from The Associated Press, the U.S. military acknowledged an MQ-9 was “downed but we have nothing additional to provide.”
The attack comes as the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip approaches. The Houthis have targeted ships traveling through the Red Sea over the war as U.S.-led airstrikes pound their positions in Yemen. That has imperiled a waterway that typically sees $1 trillion of trade pass through it, as well as crucial shipments of aid to war-torn Sudan and Yemen.
The Houthis also continue to launch missiles targeting Israel, drawing retaliatory airstrikes from the Israelis this weekend on the port city of Hodeida.
The Houthi-run broadcaster Al-Masirah claimed shooting down the MQ-9, hours after video footage circulated online showing the purported missile striking the aircraft over Yemen’s Saada province. A single image online also appeared to show wreckage of the drone, with pieces resembling that of an MQ-9.
BEIRUT — France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has urged Israel to refrain from launching a ground offensive in Lebanon and to reach a cease-fire with the Lebanese group Hezbollah after nearly two weeks of escalating tit-for-tat strikes across Israel's northern border.
“There is still hope, but there is little time left,” Barrot said during a news conference in Beirut Monday, just hours after an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in the heart of the Lebanese capital. “I therefore urge Israel to refrain from any ground incursion and to cease fire.”
He also urged Hezbollah to stop firing on Israel, saying it “bears heavy responsibility in the current situation, given its choice to enter the conflict” after ally Hamas’ Oct. 7 deadly incursion into southern Israel.
Barrot was in Lebanon to delivery medical aid and hospital equipment.
He expressed solidarity with the Lebanese people, saying they are “caught in a war (they) did not choose,” and said France will provide flights for any French nationals who want to leave Lebanon.
JERUSALEM — In a speech addressed to the Iranian people, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Islamic Republic of subjugating its citizens and indicated the Israeli military is capable of assassinating Iran’s leaders.
“Every day, their (Iran’s) puppets are eliminated. Ask Mohammed Deif. Ask Nasrallah,” Netanyahu said. “There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach.”
He was referring to the head of Hamas’ military wing, who Israel says it killed in a July strike in Gaza, and the head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in a strike on Friday. Hamas has not confirmed Deif’s death.
Over the past week, Israel has killed seven high-ranking Hezbollah commanders and officials. Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer and sponsor, has vowed to retaliate.
“Iran’s tyrants don’t care about your future,” Netanyahu said. “When Iran is finally free, that moment will come a lot sooner than people think. Everything will be different.”
Hamas’ political leader, Ismael Haniyeh, was assassinated in July in a strike on Tehran, and Iran blamed Israel. Israel has not confirmed or denied it was behind that killing.
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Hezbollah’s leader killed in a recent Israeli airstrike a “brutal terrorist” but says the U.S. will keep working on de-scalating the conflict in the Middle East.
President Joe Biden similarly said over the weekend that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah ’s death was a “measure of justice” for thousands of Americans, Israelis and Lebanese victims of a four-decade “reign of terror.”
Biden said an all-out war in the Middle East must be avoided and that he would speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but didn’t say when.
Blinken, speaking Monday at the opening of a meeting of foreign ministers in a global coalition to defeat the Islamic State group, said the U.S. is working with partners on a diplomatic resolution to ensure security for Israel and Lebanon and allow people driven from their homes along the border by months of rocket strikes to return.
He says the U.S. is still working on a cease-fire and hostage release deal in Gaza, an effort that has stalled.
“Diplomacy remains the best and only path to achieving greater stability in the Middle East,” Blinken said.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot speaks during a press conference at the Pine Palace, which is the residence of the French ambassador, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot speaks during a press conference at the Pine Palace, which is the residence of the French ambassador, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A billboard with a huge portrait of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is installed on a building as minarets of a mosque are seen, in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. The billboard reads in Farsi on top left: "The beginning of Nasrallah." (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Mourners attend a rally commemorating slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A mourner holds up a poster of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah with a quotation of him: "We will definitely win" at Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) St. in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Israeli soldiers work on on an armoured personnel carrier (APC) in northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A cat walks past a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Mourners attend a rally commemorating slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, shown in billboard, at Felestin (Palestine) Sq. in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Israeli firefighters and police bomb squad work at a site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, near Nahariya, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
Families rest on Beirut's corniche after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A Lebanese man looks through his apartment window at the scene where an Israeli airstrike hit a building early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the site of an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
A man passes by a damaged car where an Israeli airstrike hit a nearby building in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Damaged apartments, right, are seen in a building that was hit by Israeli strike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Damaged cars are parked in front of a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Yemenis stand in front of a portrait of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
A large fire and plume of smoke is visible in the port city of Hodeida, Yemen, on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, after Israeli strikes on the Houthi-controlled city. (AP Photo)
A Lebanese policeman looks at damaged apartments that were hit by Israeli strike early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
People look up at a damaged building that was hit by Israeli strike early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
People walk past damaged cars near a building hit by an Israeli airstrike early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Policemen and civil defense workers stand next to damaged cars near a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Policemen and civil defense workers inspect a damaged car near a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Women pass the damaged cars where an Israeli airstrike hit a building in Beirut early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A damaged apartment is seen on a building that was hit by Israeli strike, in Beirut early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Damages are seen on a building that was hit by Israeli strike, early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A Lebanese soldier passes next to damaged cars where an Israeli airstrike hit a building in Beirut early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
