Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Rwanda — that is the list of countries Nicaragua now joins under socialism, following the decision to extend the presidential term from six to seven years. This establishes the longest-running “presidency” in the Western Hemisphere. Yet the fundamental issue is that Nicaraguan democracy is nonexistent, and recent events prove it.

On Tuesday, Nicaragua’s National Assembly — controlled by the ruling Sandinistas — gave initial approval to a controversial constitutional reform. According to Reuters, the measure bans opposition parties from participating in elections and extends the presidential term from six to seven years.

The proposal, conceived by “co-presidents” Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, passed the first vote and must now be ratified during a second legislative session starting January 18. In doing so, the couple — socialist tyrants — will fulfill the legal formality of amending their own constitution after approving the changes across two parliamentary sessions.

In addition to extending the “co-presidents” terms from six to seven years, the reform will do the same for officials holding other positions vital to the regime’s control — such as the heads of the Army and the police. Both institutions face countless allegations of human rights violations, killings, and the intimidation of protesters and political opponents.

In truth, this move had already been foreshadowed. In mid-July, Ortega declared in a speech that there would “never again be elections” in Nicaragua, aiming to prevent the opposition from “seizing the government” once more.

Defending this maneuver — which steers Nicaragua onto a definitively totalitarian path — National Assembly President Gustavo Porras stated that elections would proceed without those he labeled “traitors to the homeland” and “coup plotters,” terms the Sandinistas frequently use to discredit the opposition.

In a Spanish-speaking America that is increasingly shifting to the right, Nicaraguan socialism appears to be retreating further into its own shell — like a beast that senses the winds changing and fears being swept away by the gale.

Several Central American countries, as well as Bolivia and Chile, criticized Ortega’s statements, viewing them as another democratic setback. Panama recalled its ambassador from Managua.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged the international community to isolate the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship. “Dictatorships that deny the unalienable rights of their citizens should not enjoy the same economic or political benefits as governments committed to defending hemispheric peace and security,” he emphasized in a statement last week.

In 2024, the ruling party approved a reform extending the presidential term from five to six years and elevating Murillo — then the country’s vice president — to the role of co-president. It also postponed the presidential elections, originally scheduled for the end of this year, to late 2027.

Ortega — a former guerrilla fighter who first seized power by force after ousting the Somoza dynasty in 1979 — is currently experiencing his greatest political isolation since that time. His ally, Nicolás Maduro, is being held in a federal prison on charges linked to narco-terrorist activities, and the leader of the Cuban tyranny, Raúl Castro, is now facing an indictment similar to the one that put the Venezuelan leader behind bars.

Approaching his 81st birthday, Ortega began his fourth consecutive term in early 2022 after “winning” a controversial election in which he imprisoned several opponents before they could even stand as presidential candidates.

The decision to exclude parties other than the Sandinistas from the electoral process is merely a formalization of Managua’s slide into tyranny. This appears to be the continuation of a political crisis that can be traced back to April 2018, when the regime cracked down on numerous protests — resulting in hundreds of deaths, thousands of injuries, the closure of civic and political space, and a mass exodus of Nicaraguans who settled largely in neighboring Costa Rica.

Upon learning of this latest blow to democracy, Rubio added that the Sandinista regime “threatens our hemisphere’s stability and prosperity.” He also affirmed that the Trump administration “remains committed to identifying and implementing actions to address the Murillo-Ortega’s violations of human rights.”