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Humberto Ortega
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Humberto Ortega
Humberto Ortega Saavedra (10 January 1947 – 30 September 2024) was a Nicaraguan revolutionary, military leader, writer and businessman. One of the nine members of the National Directorate of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), he co-founded the Tercerista tendency faction within the FSLN and was the "major theorist" of the urban insurrection strategy that toppled the Somoza family dictatorship. A four-star general, Ortega was minister of defense from 1980 to 1995, between the victory of the Sandinista revolution in 1979 under the National Reconstruction Government, through the first presidency of his brother Daniel Ortega, and into the presidency of Violeta Chamorro who defeated Daniel Ortega in 1990. He was also chief of the army, overseeing its transformation from the partisan Sandinista Popular Army (EPS) to the professionalized Nicaraguan Armed Forces under civilian control. Later in life he spoke out against repression by his brother's government (back in power since 2007). Hours after a May 2024 interview in which he sharply criticized his brother, Humberto Ortega was placed under house arrest. The following month, he was transferred to a military hospital where he died in September 2024.
Humberto Ortega Saavedra was born in La Libertad, a mining town in the Chontales Department of central Nicaragua on 10 January 1947. His parents Daniel Ortega Cerda and Lidia Saavedra, committed Nicaraguan nationalists, had six children: Humberto, Daniel Ortega, Camilo Ortega (1950–1978), Germania and two more who died in infancy. The family moved to Managua in the 1950s. Humberto Ortega taught Catholic catechism classes in Managua as a youth before repudiating Christianity. He also led the Nicaraguan Patriotic Youth (JPN).
Ortega founded the Sandinista Brigades in 1962, then formally joined the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in 1965. He and other Brigade members were suspended from the FSLN for eight months for "ultra-leftist tendencies," including unauthorized military actions. In 1969 he was wounded in the arm in an attempt to free commander Carlos Fonseca from a Costa Rican prison. Ortega was jailed, then freed with Fonseca in October 1970 as a result of an FSLN hijacking of an airliner, led by Carlos Agüero. Fonseca and Ortega flew to Havana where they were welcomed as heroes. Ortega next went to the Soviet Union for a year, where he worked on rehabilitating his arm and developing his contacts with the Soviets, before returning to Cuba. During his time there he became close to Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
In 1971, Ortega was part of an FSLN delegation with Fonseca, Agüero and Rufo Marín that received General Staff military training in North Korea. He reportedly also trained in Palestine Liberation Organization military camps in the mid-East in the mid-1970s.
Ortega, his brother, Daniel Ortega, and Víctor Tirado founded the Tercerista tendency of the FSLN in 1975. Humberto Ortega was "major theorist" of the urban insurrection strategy that ignited civil war in Nicaragua in October 1977, leading to the fall of the Somoza dynastic dictatorship in July 1979. In the interim, his brother Camilo was killed in battle in 1978 and in March 1979 Humberto was named to the nine-member National Directorate brokered by Castro to lead the FSLN.
When the FSLN took power, Ortega became chief of the Sandinista Popular Army (EPS), beginning in October 1979, and defense minister (January 1980). As of 1988, he was the army's only four-star general. During the decade of Sandinista rule, he oversaw the buildup of the EPS, making military service compulsory and mobilizing 320,000 people, as he prosecuted the war against the U.S-backed Contras.
Following the 1990 electoral defeat of Daniel Ortega and the Sandinista Party, Humberto Ortega continued on as head of the army in the Violeta Chamorro administration for five years, transforming the EPS into the non-political Nicaraguan National Army subject to civilian control. He retired in 1995, turning the job over to his second in command, Joaquín Cuadra, in the country's first peaceful transfer of control of the military.
After his security detail shot and killed a 16-year-old in 1990, in 1994 a military tribunal acquitted Ortega of allegations he was involved in a cover-up.
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Humberto Ortega
Humberto Ortega Saavedra (10 January 1947 – 30 September 2024) was a Nicaraguan revolutionary, military leader, writer and businessman. One of the nine members of the National Directorate of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), he co-founded the Tercerista tendency faction within the FSLN and was the "major theorist" of the urban insurrection strategy that toppled the Somoza family dictatorship. A four-star general, Ortega was minister of defense from 1980 to 1995, between the victory of the Sandinista revolution in 1979 under the National Reconstruction Government, through the first presidency of his brother Daniel Ortega, and into the presidency of Violeta Chamorro who defeated Daniel Ortega in 1990. He was also chief of the army, overseeing its transformation from the partisan Sandinista Popular Army (EPS) to the professionalized Nicaraguan Armed Forces under civilian control. Later in life he spoke out against repression by his brother's government (back in power since 2007). Hours after a May 2024 interview in which he sharply criticized his brother, Humberto Ortega was placed under house arrest. The following month, he was transferred to a military hospital where he died in September 2024.
Humberto Ortega Saavedra was born in La Libertad, a mining town in the Chontales Department of central Nicaragua on 10 January 1947. His parents Daniel Ortega Cerda and Lidia Saavedra, committed Nicaraguan nationalists, had six children: Humberto, Daniel Ortega, Camilo Ortega (1950–1978), Germania and two more who died in infancy. The family moved to Managua in the 1950s. Humberto Ortega taught Catholic catechism classes in Managua as a youth before repudiating Christianity. He also led the Nicaraguan Patriotic Youth (JPN).
Ortega founded the Sandinista Brigades in 1962, then formally joined the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in 1965. He and other Brigade members were suspended from the FSLN for eight months for "ultra-leftist tendencies," including unauthorized military actions. In 1969 he was wounded in the arm in an attempt to free commander Carlos Fonseca from a Costa Rican prison. Ortega was jailed, then freed with Fonseca in October 1970 as a result of an FSLN hijacking of an airliner, led by Carlos Agüero. Fonseca and Ortega flew to Havana where they were welcomed as heroes. Ortega next went to the Soviet Union for a year, where he worked on rehabilitating his arm and developing his contacts with the Soviets, before returning to Cuba. During his time there he became close to Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
In 1971, Ortega was part of an FSLN delegation with Fonseca, Agüero and Rufo Marín that received General Staff military training in North Korea. He reportedly also trained in Palestine Liberation Organization military camps in the mid-East in the mid-1970s.
Ortega, his brother, Daniel Ortega, and Víctor Tirado founded the Tercerista tendency of the FSLN in 1975. Humberto Ortega was "major theorist" of the urban insurrection strategy that ignited civil war in Nicaragua in October 1977, leading to the fall of the Somoza dynastic dictatorship in July 1979. In the interim, his brother Camilo was killed in battle in 1978 and in March 1979 Humberto was named to the nine-member National Directorate brokered by Castro to lead the FSLN.
When the FSLN took power, Ortega became chief of the Sandinista Popular Army (EPS), beginning in October 1979, and defense minister (January 1980). As of 1988, he was the army's only four-star general. During the decade of Sandinista rule, he oversaw the buildup of the EPS, making military service compulsory and mobilizing 320,000 people, as he prosecuted the war against the U.S-backed Contras.
Following the 1990 electoral defeat of Daniel Ortega and the Sandinista Party, Humberto Ortega continued on as head of the army in the Violeta Chamorro administration for five years, transforming the EPS into the non-political Nicaraguan National Army subject to civilian control. He retired in 1995, turning the job over to his second in command, Joaquín Cuadra, in the country's first peaceful transfer of control of the military.
After his security detail shot and killed a 16-year-old in 1990, in 1994 a military tribunal acquitted Ortega of allegations he was involved in a cover-up.
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