Managua, Nicaragua, Mar 1, 2011 / 11:04 am
Auxiliary Bishop Silvio Jose Baez of Managua, Nicaragua is warning that the country could be on the road to an “open or veiled form of totalitarianism” in the wake of President Daniel Ortega’s decision to run for another term.
The Sandinista Party announced on Feb. 26 that Ortega would run for re-election, even though article 147 of the Nicaraguan Constitution does not allow a president to run for immediate re-election or to serve for more than two terms.
The following day, Bishop Baez remarked that the country could be on the way to an “open or veiled form of totalitarianism.” He added that he was not expressing a personal opinion, but rather that of Nicaragua's bishops.
Last year the bishops noted that power should not be concentrated “in the hands of a few.”