Daniel Ortega tears up all pretence of democracy in Nicaragua

ON DECEMBER 27TH 1974 Hugo Torres was among a dozen Sandinista guerrillas who burst into a Christmas party attended by close cronies of Anastasio Somoza, Nicaragua’s brutal dictator. They swapped their hostages for a plane to take 14 of their imprisoned comrades to Cuba. Those freed included Daniel Ortega, who had spent seven years in jail and suffered torture. After the Sandinista revolution triumphed Mr Ortega would become Nicaragua’s president, at the head of a collective leadership, until defeated in an election in 1990. Returning in 2007, he has ruled ever since as an elected autocrat. This month his police arrested Mr Torres, now a retired brigadier and potential opposition candidate in an election due in November. “I risked my life to get Daniel Ortega out of jail,” he said. “Those who once embraced principles have betrayed them.”