Sandinismo perverted: Nicaragua betweeen progressivism and authoritarianism

Fabio Luis Barbosa dos Santos

Third World Quarterly, 2025, vol. 46, issue 11, 1342-1360

Abstract: This article examines the fundamental lines of the Orteguista regime, in power in Nicaragua since 2007, and its evolution, reflecting on new and old forms of authoritarian politics in Latin America. The research is based on primary and secondary sources and on interviews conducted in 2022 and 2023 with Nicaraguans in Costa Rica since, on both occasions, entering Nicaragua was not allowed. Firstly, the article discusses the political economy of Orteguismo, highlighting the role of a Venezuelan oil cooperation, which allowed social programmes to be reconciled with a relationship of co-government with the business community. We then analyse the inflection produced by the popular rebellion in 2018, which was linked to fiscal austerity measures arising from the decline in Venezuelan cooperation. This crisis has intensified authoritarian tendencies that led the regime to close in on itself, breaking off relations with the business community and the Catholic Church. In the last section, the Maduro government in Venezuela and the Bukele government in El Salvador are briefly discussed in light of issues raised throughout the text. Although identified with opposing poles of the political spectrum, these two governments also reveal anti-democratic tendencies, prompting reflections on the forms of authoritarianism and the challenges facing the left in the twenty-first century.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2025.2499089

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