Humberto Ortega Saavedra obituary and legacy in Nicaragua

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Humberto Ortega Saavedra, a former general of the Sandinista Army who led forces after the 1979 revolution and later served as defense minister, died this Monday in a Managua military hospital at the age of 77. According to the institution that had managed him for years, his death was caused by heart complications. [Citation: Official hospital statement, Managua, 2024]

His health had deteriorated further under the de facto house arrest imposed by his brother and sister-in-law Rosario Murillo since May 19, 2024. The ex-military had challenged his brother’s plan to establish dynastic rule, suggesting at one point that such a lineage would be delegated to one of his sons. [Citation: Family and official statements, 2024]

The Ortega history in the Sandinista Front for Liberation, known as the FSLN, is also the family history. The parents sympathized with Augusto Cesar Sandino. Camilo Ortega was the third brother to participate in the insurgency but died a year before the triumph. Humberto, by then, was already a guerrilla reference. He had tried to assassinate the dictator Anastasio Somoza. He also participated in the failed preparations to help their main leader, Carlos Fonseca Amador, escape from prison. He failed in both actions, and as a consequence of the second he was unable to continue fighting as a guerrilla. Yet those efforts were enough to earn him prominence within the FSLN when power was seized. Humberto Ortega’s leadership of the Defense Ministry and the armed forces was so central that he accompanied the political transition after the Sandinista defeat in the 1990 elections, which brought Violeta Chamorro to the presidency. He remained in the post for five years. [Citation: Historical records; 1990 transition]

The paths of the Ortegas began to diverge slowly, to the point of partial residence in Costa Rica and a quiet stance after Daniel Ortega regained the presidency in 2007, embarking on a more autocratic course. Each of his statements was read with intense scrutiny and suspicion. [Citation: Political analysis; 2007–present]

Although the ex-military never directly confronted the presidential couple with the same intensity as Dora María Téllez, another historic FSLN leader, Nicaragua’s people quickly grasped the scale of the disagreements between them. The rift deepened to the point that on May 28, the president labeled Humberto’s 1992 act of awarding a US military officer a decoration at an institutional event as a betrayal of the homeland. [Citation: Government statements; 1992]

La ruptura

Months earlier he had argued that a family succession to the current head of state would be “very difficult,” especially given the lack of political capital among the presumed heirs, including Laureano Ortega. Humberto did not have to wait long to feel his brother’s anger, initially expressed indirectly: authorities arrested people who worked with him and seized his computer and phones. [Citation: Political developments; 2024]

After news of his death, the government appeared to downplay the quarrels and highlighted the deceased’s strategic contribution since adolescence, as well as his bravery in past military actions that left a lasting mark on the nation. They also recognized his writings, platforms, insurgent and historical theories, which collected and presented the epics of the heroic Nicaraguan people with clarity and impact. They praised his capacity, audacity and commitment to history, noting merits and personalities that stood out for courage and resolve. [Citation: Official statements; 2024]

The actions and opinions of Humberto Ortega after 1990 did not receive any necrological exaltation. [Citation: Reflections from the period; 1990s–present]

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