From her “self-exile”, Zoilamérica Ortega Murillo believes that the concentration of power held by her mother and step-father will affect Costa Rica.
The 45 year old sociologist, daughter of Nicaragua’s power couple, Rosario Murillo and president Daniel Ortega, who settled in Costa Rica some three years ago, when the government expelled her common-law husband, a Bolivian national who worked at the NGO she headed.
Zoilamérica has been fighting against her step-father for almost two decades, filing complaints of rape and abuse against him, charges that were buried by the courts.
Now, that her mother was appointed vice-presidential candidate in the upcoming November presidential election, a move many believe is one step closer for Murillo to become president and continue the Ortega dynasty in Nicaragua, Zoilamérica says the concentration of power, could have an effect on Costa Rica.
Zoilamérica believes that Costa Rica could see more Nicaraguans, excluded from the social and economic policies, seeking refuge here.
“In Nicaragua, it is not beneficial not to share a party structure at a neighbourhood or community level…ultimately, political exclusion will mean forced migration,” said Zoilamérica.
“When you arrive in Nicaragua by land or air, the first thing you see is advertising of ‘solidarity’ for the Party that has a control on the media,” added Zoilamérica.
“The mega publicity, as it is known in business and political marketing, is intended to generate an effect almost of omnipotence, supreme power. And I think many people in Nicaragua, so painful it is to see the country out of one dictatorship and to enter another (…),” continued Zoilamérica in her interview with La Nacion.
However, not all is pessimism. Zoilamérica is positive that the power couple’s reign on her native land won’t be for long.
“There are brave people there and also my fervent hope that where there seems to be no signs, we are seeing symptoms that show the deep weakness of this regime and the absolute illegitimacy that it is reaching…I will return to a Nicaragua free in less time than we think.
“We do not need heroes. Nicaragua does not need heroes, nor saviors. And how is it going to be saved? From a slogan of the (Sandinista) Revolution, ‘only the people can save the people’, and I believe it more today than ever, of course it is still an act of hope, there are leaders we do not see in newspapers or propagandizing in public, but who have been able to articulate,” said Zoilamérica.
Source: La Nacion
