MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega on Wednesday proposed a constitutional reform that would officially make him and his wife, current Vice President Rosario Murillo, “copresidents” of the Central American nation.
While the initiative has to pass through the country's legislature, Ortega and Murillo's Sandinista party control the congress and all government institutions, so it is likely to be approved.
The proposal also looks to expand the presidential term to six years from five. Ortega put forward another bill Wednesday that would make it illegal for anyone to enforce sanctions from the United States or other foreign bodies “within Nicaraguan territory.”
The Organization of American States general secretary's office condemned the proposed constitutional reforms Wednesday.
“The ‘reform’ document is illegitimate in form and content, it merely constitutes an aberrant form of institutionalization of the matrimonial dictatorship in the Central American country and is a definitive attack on the democratic rule of law,” it said in a statement.
The proposals come amid an ongoing crackdown by the Ortega government since mass social protests in 2018 that the government violently repressed.
Nicaragua's government has imprisoned adversaries, religious leaders, journalists and more, then exiled them, stripping hundreds of their Nicaraguan citizenship and possessions. Since 2018, it has shuttered more than 5,000 organizations, largely religious, and forced thousands to flee the country.
Dissident groups including the Nicaraguan University Alliance quickly railed against the measures, calling them an extension of that clampdown.
“They are institutionalizing nepotism and repression, destroying the rule of law. Democracy faces its greatest threat,” the organization wrote on the social media platform X on Wednesday.
Manuel Orozco, director of the migration, remittances, and development program at the Inter-American Dialogue, called Ortega's proposed reforms “nothing but a rubber stamping formalization of a decision to guarantee presidential succession” for Murillo and their family. Ortega has referred to Murillo previously in recent years as his copresident.
While rejection of international sanctions would have no immediate impact, Orozco said it could put the country at “high financial risk” and risk further penalties from the U.S. Treasury Department.
Orozco said the constitutional reform to the presidency is part of a long-term plan for the administration to stay in power, and was pushed forward Wednesday as a way to avoid provoking the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
The analyst said Trump may not prioritize crackdowns on democratic freedoms in places like Nicaragua, but also isn't likely to “tolerate provocations.”
“The procedure, apart from circumventing the popular will, the rule of law, creates the pathway to give Ortega extra time to stay in power,” Orozco said. Ortega was reelected to a fourth consecutive five-year term in November 2021.
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FILE - In this Sept. 5, 2018 file photo, Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, lead a rally in Managua, Nicaragua. (AP Photo/Alfredo Zuniga, File)
Atlanta’s Chris Sale and Detroit’s Tarik Skubal each won their first Cy Young Award on Wednesday night after the left-handers shared the MLB lead with 18 wins while leading their respective leagues in strikeouts and ERA.
Sale went 18-3 and topped the National League with 225 strikeouts, while his 2.38 ERA in 29 starts was the best among all major league qualifiers in his first season with the Braves. The 35-year-old was an All-Star for the eighth time and won his first Gold Glove this year.
Skubal, who turned 28 on Wednesday, went 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA and a big league-best 228 strikeouts in 31 starts for the Tigers. He was a unanimous winner in voting for the American League prize by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America that was completed before the playoffs.
Sale received 26 of 30 first-place votes in the NL. Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler got the other four and finished second. Hard-throwing Pittsburgh Pirates righty Paul Skenes was third only two days after being selected the NL Rookie of the Year.
Kansas City starter Seth Lugo (16-9, 3.00 ERA) was runner-up to Skubal, and Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase (47 saves) came in third.
Clayton Kershaw had been the NL’s last pitching triple crown winner in 2011, which was also the previous time both leagues had a pitcher accomplish the feat. Kershaw won the first of his three Cy Young Awards with the Los Angeles Dodgers that year, and 24-game winner Justin Verlander took the AL honor for Detroit.
With Sale and Skubal this season, there have been 25 times when a pitcher led his league in wins, strikeouts and ERA among qualifiers. A Cy Young Award followed every time.
After battling injuries since helping Boston win the 2018 World Series, Sale didn’t have any major issues in his Braves debut until he was scratched because of back issues from their final regular-season game, which they had to win to make the playoffs. He was then left off the roster for their Wild Card Series loss to San Diego.
Atlanta acquired Sale in a trade last December after he made only 31 starts for the Red Sox from 2021-23. He missed the 2020 season and most of 2021 after Tommy John surgery. He made only two starts in 2022 after he fractured a rib and then broke his left pinkie. He broke his right wrist riding a bicycle in August 2023, ending his final season with Boston.
Sale was named the NL Comeback Player of the Year last week at Major League Baseball’s All-MLB Awards Show.
This was the third time Sale finished among the top three in Cy Young Award voting. He was the AL runner-up in 2017 after his first season with Boston behind Corey Kluber, who was also the Cy Young Award winner in 2014 when Sale finished third while with the Chicago White Sox.
Sale won the eighth Cy Young Award for the Braves organization. Most of those came in the 1990s, when Greg Maddux won three in a row with Atlanta from 1993-95 — after being the 1992 winner with the Chicago Cubs. Tom Glavine won twice (1991 and 1998), and John Smoltz was the 1996 winner. Warren Spahn was the first in 1957 when the Braves played in Milwaukee.
Detroit now has six Cy Young Awards. Denny McLain won back-to-back in 1968 and 1969, and reliever Willie Hernández was the 1984 winner. Verlander’s Cy Young Award with the Tigers came two years before Max Scherzer win in 2013.
Skubal made his big league debut in 2020, two years after the Tigers drafted him in the ninth round.
In an unforgettable 2024 regular season filled with dominant performances, Skubal pitched at least six innings in 25 of his 31 starts. He was 6-0 in his first nine starts, and also finished the season the same way — 6-0 in his last nine starts while the Tigers made their surprising push to the playoffs.
He made his playoff debut with 17 consecutive scoreless innings before a five-run fifth that including a grand slam by Cleveland’s Lane Thomas in the deciding Game 5 of their AL Division Series. That 7-3 loss ended the Tigers' season.
The 22-year-old Skenes is the fifth rookie to finish among the top three in Cy Young Award voting. Only Fernando Valenzuela won both awards in the same year, in 1981 with the Dodgers in the National League.
Clase, with a 0.61 ERA in 74 1/3 innings over 74 games, is the first reliever to finish among the top three in Cy Young voting since San Diego closer Trevor Hoffman came in second for the NL award in 2006.
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FILE - Pittsburgh Pirates' Paul Skenes resets on the mound before delivering a pitch during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Sept. 22, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Kareem Elgazzar, File)
FILE - From left are baseball players, Cleveland Guardians' Emmanuel Clase, Kansas City Royals' Seth Lugo and Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal, in 2024. (AP Photo/File)
FILE - From left are baseball players, Atlanta Braves' Chris Sale, Pittsburgh Pirates' Paul Skenes and Philadelphia Phillies' Zack Wheeler. (AP Photo/File)
