MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Nicaragua: Ortega reappears after 68 days as the government gives no word on his health

Ortega walked slowly and looked frail, and the official broadcast avoided close-ups

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega reappeared in public on Monday night, 68 days after his last appearance, at a tribute in Managua to Carlos Fonseca, founder of the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front. It was his longest absence since returning to power in 2007. The government has never reported on his health or explained his absences.

Ortega, who turns 81 on Wednesday, attended the event at the old Plaza of the Revolution accompanied by his wife, co-president Rosario Murillo, who announced it on Sunday, members of the Sandinista Youth and relatives. He did not give a speech. “Carlos, here are the young people, those who will never forget you, who will never betray you, who will always be loyal to you, until death,” he said in brief remarks. According to international press reports, he walked slowly and looked frail, and the official broadcast avoided close-ups.

His last appearance had been on September 2, at an event marking the anniversary of the Army. His absence broke the 61-day record set in 2024. According to a count by the newspaper Confidencial, Ortega had appeared only 11 times so far in 2026, compared with an average of 26 between January and October in each year from 2018 to 2025. In September, the ceremony to receive the Central American independence torch was held without him or Murillo, and their children Maurice and Camila Ortega Murillo attended instead.

During his absence, the National Assembly approved a constitutional reform that abolished the vice presidency and created “presidential designees”, twenty months after the reform that created the co-presidency. Opposition analysts interpreted it as an attempt to secure the continuity of power within the presidential family. Also in that period, Nicaragua refused to receive Natasha Franceschi, the ambassador designated by US President Donald Trump, and Washington recalled its top representative in Managua, Elias Baumann, for consultations, according to El País. Neither Ortega nor Murillo has offered public explanations.