Retired general Humberto Ortega, brother of the president of NicaraguaDaniel Ortega, who was under police surveillance after question the “dictatorial” succession of the head of state and being declared a “traitor to the country”, died this Monday of cardiac arrest, reported the Military Medical Corps of the Nicaraguan Army.
“The Management of the Dr. Alejandro Dávila Bolaños Military Hospital School of the Military Medical Corps of the Nicaraguan Army announces that on September 30, 2024, at 01:55 a.m. (07:55 GMT), the patient Humberto Ortega Saavedra , 77 years old, had cardiorespiratory arrestand after treating him with cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers he did not come out of that condition, being declared dead at 02:30 hours (08:30 GMT)”, the military body stated in a press release.
The former head of the Army and younger brother of President Ortega, was admitted on July 11 “with a complex health condition” and the day before he presented a “sudden deterioration of his condition with cardiogenic shock and altered state of consciousness that required intensive care treatment to maintain blood pressure levels,” according to the Military Medical Corps.
Retired General Humberto Ortega (1947), one of the strategists of the armed insurrection against the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979, founder of the Sandinista Popular Army, which he led from 1979 to 1995, remained under surveillance at his residence in Managua after he questioned the “dictatorial” succession of the head of state.
In an interview with the Argentine media Infobae, published on May 19, the retired general considered that the “dictatorial” power of his brotherabout to turn 79 years old and who has been in power in Nicaragua since 2007, has no suitable successors, neither his wife Rosario Murillo nor any of his children, and that in the event of his eventual absence or death there will be a great power vacuumso elections must be called.
After questioning the “dictatorial” succession, the authorities retained the former military chief’s cell phones and computers and installed a medical care unit in his residence to take care of ailments “that have afflicted and continue to afflict General Ortega”, one of the historic nine commanders of the National Directorate of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) who led Nicaragua between 1979 and 1990.
Ten days after criticizing the “dictatorial” succession, President Ortega and Vice President Murillo declared “traitor to the country” to the retired general during an official event broadcast on television, and in the presence of the Army and Police leadership. The president criticized that his brother, whom he did not mention by name, decorated the Camilo Ortega medal in its highest degree (gold) in 1992 to the attaché of the United States Government in Nicaragua, Lieutenant Colonel Dennis F. Quinn, when he directed the Army (1979-1995).
Ortega accused his brother of “treason to the country” and of having “gave his soul to the devil” for decorating, 32 years ago, the American soldier, an action that he described as “sacrilege”, “selling the country”, “national disgrace”, “national shame” and “act of surrender”. However, on September 3, 2019, President Ortega himself awarded a medal to the then principal officer for Defense Affairs and Defense Attaché of the United States in Nicaragua, Lieutenant Colonel William Hogan.
Nicaragua is going through a political and social crisis since April 2018which was accentuated after the controversial general elections of November 7, 2021, in which Ortega was re-elected for a fifth and fourth consecutive term, with his main contenders in prison and whom he later expelled from the country, and deprived of their nationality and political rights.
