# Nicaragua banned US-sponsored coup leaders from elections, sparking corporate media meltdown - The Grayzone
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Publisher: The Grayzone - News and investigative journalism on empire · published 2026-07-30 · read 2026-09-12

Original: https://thegrayzone.com/2026/07/29/nicaragua-didnt-abolish-elections/

*A source is testimony, not proof. The document itself is never republished here.*

## Who is named (26)

- [Manuel Orozco](https://truthscore.com/entity/028d8c8c)
- [Atlantic Council](https://truthscore.com/entity/042ee48d)
- [Marco Rubio](https://truthscore.com/entity/085cacb6)
- [Carlos Giménez](https://truthscore.com/entity/0d75fa7c)
- [US state department](https://truthscore.com/entity/145d1dee)
- [Juan Orlando Hernández](https://truthscore.com/entity/17651f4a)
- [Donald Trump](https://truthscore.com/entity/1d81dc68)
- [Juan Sebastián Chamorro](https://truthscore.com/entity/1ee4455d)
- [Nicaragua](https://truthscore.com/entity/1efe9ec5)
- [House Committee](https://truthscore.com/entity/35b4649c)
- [Maria Elvira Salazar](https://truthscore.com/entity/36f34332)
- [Damon Wilson](https://truthscore.com/entity/3e5c164e)
- [Nicaraguan government](https://truthscore.com/entity/46407373)
- [NED](https://truthscore.com/entity/471b4e70)
- [BBC](https://truthscore.com/entity/4dc82e91)
- [South Florida](https://truthscore.com/entity/51aee824)
- [CB Global Data](https://truthscore.com/entity/62fcf393)
- [Institute for Strategic Studies and Public Policy](https://truthscore.com/entity/7e828dce)
- [The New York Times](https://truthscore.com/entity/9869dffb)
- [Bloomberg](https://truthscore.com/entity/995141d4)
- [Somoza dictatorship](https://truthscore.com/entity/b2c64300)
- [Felix Maradiaga](https://truthscore.com/entity/c79bbdc3)
- [Daniel Ortega](https://truthscore.com/entity/cd9c2428)
- [Atlas Network](https://truthscore.com/entity/d23a6d2a)
- [Honduras](https://truthscore.com/entity/e7c3411a)
- [United States](https://truthscore.com/entity/f6d3f5b6)

## What it added

- [None who promoted a violent anti-government insurrection in 2018 will be allowed to stand for office in the 2027 elections.](https://truthscore.com/claim/5b9492d1)
  > In his national address on July 19, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega stated that when the country’s next elections take place in 2027, none who promoted a violent anti-government insurrection in 2018 will be allowed to stand for office.
- [Western media outlets universally interpreted the pledge as a total ban on voting, prompting interventions from the U.S. State Department and South Florida.](https://truthscore.com/claim/c7c1ff7b)
  > The pledge was universally interpreted by Western media outlets as a total ban on voting, prompting hysterical interventions from the US State Dept and throughout South Florida.
- [July 19 marks the anniversary of the 1979 Sandinista Revolution victory and the overthrow of the US‑backed Somoza dictatorship.](https://truthscore.com/claim/ea756693)
  > July 19 is a key date in Nicaragua’s calendar – the anniversary of the victory of its Sandinista revolution in 1979 and the overthrow of the vicious US-backed Somoza dictatorship which terrorized Nicaraguans for 43 years prior.
- [Every year huge crowds gather in celebrations across the country, culminating in a nationally‑broadcast speech by President Daniel Ortega.](https://truthscore.com/claim/9f9f2102)
  > Every year, huge crowds gather in celebrations across the country, culminating in a nationally‑broadcast speech by President Daniel Ortega.
- [Ortega has used the July 19 moment in recent years to discuss the country’s prior successes, lay out the agenda for the following year, praise the 1979…](https://truthscore.com/claim/503bfffa)
  > In recent years, Ortega has used the moment to discuss the country’s successes in the year prior, and lay out the agenda for the following year, while lauding not just the Sandinista Revolution’s triumph in 1979 but also the country’s resistance to the 2018 coup attempt – and lamenting the death and destruction it caused before peace was restored.
- [Ortega proposed a blanket electoral ban on candidates who participated in fomenting the 2018 riots that left hundreds dead.](https://truthscore.com/claim/a06dc20e)
  > This July 19, while discussing that violence, Ortega proposed a blanket electoral ban on candidates who participated in fomenting the riots which plagued Nicaragua for months in a violent, US government-sponsored coup attempt which left hundreds dead.
- [There will be no elections like that again here – no more elections through which they can try cheating their way to government or cheat their way to taking…](https://truthscore.com/claim/65be2010)
  > “There will be no elections like that again here – no more elections through which they can try cheating their way to government or cheat their way to taking power.
- [The New York Times reported that Daniel Ortega planned to abolish elections completely, strengthening his authoritarian grip on the country.](https://truthscore.com/claim/54cdf2ac)
  > Quoting the President’s statement completely out of context, The New York Times shrieked that Daniel Ortega planned to abolish elections completely, strengthening his “authoritarian grip” on the country.
- [Bloomberg published a headline stating “Nicaragua’s Dictatorship Should Be Marco Rubio’s Next Problem.”](https://truthscore.com/claim/ff961eb8)
  > A headline in business journal Bloomberg blared: “Nicaragua’s Dictatorship Should Be Marco Rubio’s Next Problem.”
- [Marco Rubio issued a statement accusing the Nicaraguan government of “thwarting the basic tenets of our democratic hemisphere.”](https://truthscore.com/claim/9a6914be)
  > Right on cue, Rubio issued a statement accusing the Nicaraguan government of “thwarting the basic tenets of our democratic hemisphere.”
- [Felix Maradiaga claimed that Ortega buried Nicaraguan democracy a long time ago.](https://truthscore.com/claim/934b4669)
  > The Times went to Felix Maradiaga, leader of an opposition group which “operates in secret in Nicaragua,” who claimed that “Ortega buried Nicaraguan democracy a long time ago.”
- [Felix Maradiaga is aligned with the far‑right Atlas Network and was a key actor in the 2018 coup attempt, receiving substantial U.S. funding.](https://truthscore.com/claim/a5961677)
  > Unmentioned by the NY Times was that Maradiaga is aligned with the far‑right Atlas Network and was a key actor in the 2018 coup attempt, for which he received copious US funding.
- [The Institute for Strategic Studies and Public Policy (IEEPP) received at least $260,000 from the National Endowment for Democracy between 2014 and 2018.](https://truthscore.com/claim/9439b4a0)
  > As Max Blumenthal revealed in The Grayzone in 2018, the Yale‑trained Maradiaga’s Institute for Strategic Studies and Public Policy (IEEPP) had received at least $260,000 from the US government’s National Endowment for Democracy since 2014.
- [The BBC falsely asserted that Nicaragua’s next elections were “cancelled.”](https://truthscore.com/claim/479027f4)
  > The BBC, falsely asserting that Nicaragua’s next elections were now “cancelled,” rolled out another opposition activist, Juan Sebastián Chamorro, who labelled Nicaragua “the North Korea of Latin America.”
- [Juan Sebastián Chamorro and his family have historically been the biggest recipients of U.S. funding for regime‑change efforts in Nicaragua and likely continue…](https://truthscore.com/claim/06132209)
  > Chamorro and his oligarchic family have historically been the biggest recipients of US funding directed at regime change in Nicaragua and almost certainly still are.
- [During the 2018 coup, Juan Sebastián Chamorro promoted the use of roadblocks where opposition hooligans kidnapped, brutalized, raped and killed civilians.](https://truthscore.com/claim/13f11e93)
  > During the 2018 coup, Juan Sebastián Chamorro promoted the strategy of erecting tranques, or roadblocks, where opposition hooligans kidnapped, brutalized, raped and even killed common Nicaraguan citizens in a failed bid to strangle the country’s economy and ultimately take over its cities.
- [Reuters described Maradiaga as a “presidential hopeful,” and Chamorro is a joint author of an Atlantic Council report calling for Washington to back his…](https://truthscore.com/claim/547d2466)
  > Reuters described Maradiaga as a “presidential hopeful,” while Chamorro is joint author of a new Atlantic Council report calling for Washington to back his “transition plan” for Nicaragua.
- [Damon Wilson told a House Committee in February that the National Endowment for Democracy is funding Nicaraguan media to undermine the Sandinista government.](https://truthscore.com/claim/84fa4c37)
  > The National Endowment for Democracy’s president, Damon Wilson, bragged to a House committee in February that his organization is funding media in Nicaragua with an eye to undermining its Sandinista government.
- [The NED currently spends over $2 million annually on Nicaraguan opposition groups, its highest funding level for any country in the region.](https://truthscore.com/claim/df5b3e1d)
  > The NED, a CIA cutout, currently spends over $2 million annually on Nicaraguan opposition groups — its highest funding level for any country in the region.
- [Opinion polls in 2026 showed the Nicaraguan government’s approval ranging from 40 % to 60 % according to CB Global Data.](https://truthscore.com/claim/1874d073)
  > Opinion polls consistently show that the government has significant popular support. For example, its approval levels ranged from 40‑60 % in Argentina’s CB Global Data polls over the course of 2026.
- [Ortega’s call to bar coup participants from elections was met with cheers from the July 19 crowds.](https://truthscore.com/claim/5ac9c012)
  > Ortega’s call for elections that bar the golpistas (coup mongers) from taking part was therefore met with cheers from the July 19 crowds.
- [Trump threatened Hondurans with aid cuts if they failed to vote as he wanted in last December’s poll and freed former president Juan Orlando Hernández.](https://truthscore.com/claim/83070f72)
  > Next‑door Honduras provides a lesson of US electoral interference. Not only did Trump threaten Hondurans with aid cuts if they failed to vote as he wanted in last December’s poll, he also freed the convicted, narco‑trafficking former president, Juan Orlando Hernández.
- [Marco Rubio is being pushed by Florida Republicans María Elvira Salazar and Carlos Giménez to ensure that “After Cuba, Nicaragua is next.”](https://truthscore.com/claim/81164f3d)
  > Now, Marco Rubio is being pushed by Florida Republicans such as Representatives María Elvira Salazar and Carlos Giménez to ensure that “After Cuba, Nicaragua is next.”
- [Manuel Orozco told CNN that nobody is thinking about what it would mean for the United States to remove these people from power when there is no opposition.](https://truthscore.com/claim/93092ac1)
  > This week, one of Ortega’s most prominent critics, Manuel Orozco of the Inter‑American Dialogue, admitted to CNN that “Nobody is thinking about what it would mean for the United States to remove these people from power when there is no opposition, the public does not know who the leaders in exile are, and there is economic stability.”
- [Rubio warned that the Trump Administration and the international community will not stand by as the Murillo‑Ortega dictatorship deepens repression and…](https://truthscore.com/claim/21271228)
  > Rubio threatened: “The Trump Administration and the international community will not stand by as the Murillo‑Ortega dictatorship deepens repression at home and manufactures instability that threatens U.S. national security.”
- [Nicaragua has been placed under a new round of U.S. tariffs, and economic sanctions and attacks on its trade with the United States will continue.](https://truthscore.com/claim/ea94bd27)
  > Nicaragua has already been included in a fresh round of US tariffs, and economic sanctions and attacks on its trade with the US will certainly continue.
- [The political focus is likely to stay on electoral interference, as the National Assembly president has reiterated that elections will indeed take place.](https://truthscore.com/claim/7e1f5f0d)
  > However, the political focus is likely to stay on electoral interference, now that Nicaragua’s National Assembly president has repeated earlier assurances that elections will indeed take place.
- [Ortega’s government claims the sovereign right to fight foreign interference in its electoral process.](https://truthscore.com/claim/c36d169b)
  > This brings us back to Daniel Ortega’s declaration during the celebrations in Managua. His government has the sovereign right to fight foreign interference in its electoral process.
- [The United States exercised the same right, with Trump railing against foreign interference in U.S. elections only days before Ortega’s speech.](https://truthscore.com/claim/6a5c1367)
  > The US exercises the same right itself: only days before Ortega’s speech, Trump railed against foreign interference in US elections, promising measures to protect their integrity.

## What it cost

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