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🇵🇾 Paraguay /Elections & Politics

Peru urges international community to prevent ‘a dictatorship from taking hold’ in Nicaragua

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Official statement Approved/passed
  • Peru’s government urged the international community to oppose Nicaragua’s constitutional reforms, which passed an initial vote.
  • The proposed changes would bar people labeled “traitors to the homeland” from elections and extend officials’ terms, including the presidency, to seven years.
  • Peru said the reforms threaten free elections and democratic institutions as Nicaragua’s legislature advances changes backed by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.

Peru has called on the international community to act against constitutional reforms approved in a first vote in Nicaragua, warning that they could consolidate a dictatorship led by co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.

avoid allowing a dictatorship to take hold

· Government of PeruThe appeal to the international community over Nicaragua’s constitutional reforms.

In a statement, Peru’s Foreign Ministry rejected provisions that would exclude people labeled “traitors to the homeland” from elections and extend the terms of authorities to seven years, including the presidential term. The label has been used by Nicaragua’s government for at least 452 opposition figures and critics who were stripped of their nationality, including writers Sergio Ramírez and Gioconda Belli.

Peru’s Foreign Ministry said the amendments seek to “destroy the country’s democratic institutions” by removing the possibility of free elections, weakening the rule of law and perpetuating the Ortega-Murillo family government. It said the initiative violated the Inter-American Democratic Charter and Nicaragua’s international human rights commitments.

destroy the country’s democratic institutions

· Peru’s Foreign MinistryThe ministry’s characterization of the reforms’ effect on elections and the rule of law.

The ministry also argued that the reforms showed there were no minimum conditions for free, fair and competitive elections in Nicaragua. It accused the government’s repressive apparatus of systematically and arbitrarily criminalizing the democratic opposition. Peru reaffirmed its support for Nicaragua’s people, political prisoners, exiles and others persecuted for seeking free elections.

traitors to the homeland

· Nicaraguan governmentThe term used for opposition figures and critics excluded from political participation.

The reforms were promoted by Ortega, a former Sandinista guerrilla who has governed Nicaragua since 2007 and has ruled alongside his wife since 2025 following an earlier constitutional change. Nicaragua was due to hold general elections in November 2026, but the proposed amendments extend the presidential term. The legislature approved the measures after Ortega said on July 19 that there would be no more elections in the country.

there will be no more elections

· Daniel OrtegaThe statement he made on July 19 before the latest reforms advanced.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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