Former Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños, who ruled the Central American country between 2002 and 2007 and was the last president before Daniel Ortega’s rise to power, died this Monday night after a complication in his health.
Bolaños, 93, died at 11:05 p.m. on Monday (local time), as reported by his own family, which has specified that the death was due to his “broken” health, ‘La Prensa’ reports.
The former president was a great critic of Ortega and one of the main opposition figures to the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FMLN) of the current president, whom he had accused on several occasions of not having left power since 1979 – Ortega was a member of the Governing Board of National Reconciliation that governed the nation with the triumph of the Sandinista revolution and the fall of the dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle, and later president.
A businessman who entered politics during the first Ortega government (1979-1990) to oppose the Sandinista administration, Bolaños was in prison and was subject to expropriations in the framework of the agrarian reform undertaken by the FMLN.
In addition to holding the position of president, he was also in charge of the vice-presidency of the Government of Arnoldo Alemán, also of his political training, between 1997 and 2000, although during his administration he initiated a trial against Alemán for corruption, which earned him criticism from your own party.
Among his most outstanding actions at the head of the country, economic ones stand out, such as the signing of the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States or the forgiveness of 80 percent of Nicaragua’s foreign debt.
However, some of his social measures also include the proposal of a total ban on abortion, with penalties of up to 30 years. Various cases of corruption in his administration were also investigated, he even testified in an alleged influence peddling before the Comptroller General, and was accused by the opposition of having committed electoral crimes during his campaign.
The Bolaños family has specified, in the letter that they have disclosed after his death, that in the context of the coronavirus pandemic no public act will be held, following the will of the former president, who “always called for prudence and care” .
