In 2006 Daniel Ortega declared before the Comptroller General that his total assets barely reached a little more than US$217,000 dollars, however, today after 11 years of office, he has two vehicles that twice exceed all his net worth at that time.
Companies, media, hotels … Ortega’s net worth is perceived but it has been impossible to know how much it amounts to. Nicaragua Investiga found some clear clues as to how much his fortune is and everything indicates that he has already surpassed the fortune that of Carlos Pellas Chamorro, who has a net worth of US$2.7 billion (2016). But you won’t find Pellas nor Ortega on Forbes list of The World’s Billionaires.
For many, it is obvious that Ortega is no longer the broke guerrilla of the 80s. Today he, his wife and children exhibit extravagant luxuries … but how much is Ortega’s fortune and how did he get it?
Watch the video below (in Spanish) for Nicaragua Investiga’s report on who Ortega got his money and who may just be the richest man in Central America.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46Kyx2cjWuo]
But that won’t be known if and when he leaves power, which in reality will never be known, similar to the ‘piñata’ of the 80s, that left a debt that all Nicaraguans continue to pay today.
In the closing words of the video, Ortega asks rethorically “whose fault is it? Whose fault is it?”
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
