Presentation by Dr. Gustavo Porras President of the National Assembly
on the Proposal to Amend the Political Constitution before the Ministry of the Interior
Friday, July 31st 2026
To begin with, welcome to all the Compañeras and Compañeros of the Ministry of the Interior and welcome to Compañera María Amelia Coronel Kinloch, Minister of the Interior. To Commissioner General Luis Cañas Novoa, Deputy Minister of the Interior; to Compañera Carla Salinas García, Deputy Minister of the Interior.
We also greet our brothers the Commissioners General who are at the head of the different directorates: Commissioner General Ramón Landero Pichardo, Director General of the Fire Service; Commissioner General Julio Orozco, Director General of the Penitentiary System; and Commissioner General Juan Emilio Rivas Benítez, Director General of Migration and Foreign Citizens.
Similarly, we welcome you all and, for us, it is a pleasure to have all of you, officials of the General Directorates and the central leadership of the Ministry of the Interior.
Before starting, I want to introduce to you the Compañeras and Compañeros with whom we are working on Electoral Reform, the Constitutional Reform which, of course, has to do with elections. a Constitutional Reform ordered by Comandante Daniel and Compañera Rosario. That is to say, the Special Constitutional Commission is formed by the Members of the National Asembly’s Executive Board, by the three heads of the political groupings, the groupings that exist in the National Assembly, and by the presidents of the two most important commissions of the National Assembly.
I'm going to introduce you to my colleague Dr. Arling Alonso, who is the National Assembly’s First Vice President. Also the Compañera, much loved by us, the Heroine Amada Pineda, Amadita, very much respected, a historic woman; you know Amadita. She is the second Vice-President of the Assembly. And to my friend Maria Haydee Osuna, who is the president of the Liberal Constitutionalist Party and a Member, the Third Vice President of the Assembly, who has always been united with an admirable position in terms of patriotism, along with all the Compañeras and Compañeros who are with us.
Similarly, I would like to introduce you to the Compañera Loria Dixon, she is the First Secretary; to Doctor Wilfredo Navarro, who is the Second Secretary and to our friend Alejandro Mejía Ferretti, who is the Third Secretary of the National Assembly. Those are the Members of the Executive Board of the Assembly.
Also in the Special Constitutional Commission are the three heads of the political groupings. There is Compañero Edwin Castro; you probably know him, he is the head of the Sandinista Front grouping. We have our friend Lester Flores, who is the head of the PLC grouping.
And we have our friend Mario Asensio, who is the head of the BID grouping. The BID grouping is the Democratic Independent grouping that brings together several political parties, including the PLI, the ALN and other parties. He is responsible for that grouping. We have our brother and our sister who are presidents of two very important commissions. The commission that is called Production, Economy and Budget, which we know as the Economic Commission, whose president is Dr. Wálmaro Gutiérrez, who is here with us. And Dr. Auxiliadora Martínez, who is the president of the Justice Commission.
The twelve of us form the Special Constitutional Commission. We have the responsibility to carry out the orders of our superiors. And also here, in this fraternal setting, we have our Supreme Leadership clear, the Supreme Leadership of us all, the Presidency: Co-President Comandante Daniel Ortega and Co-President Compañera Rosario Murillo. Their guidelines and orders, as you know, have been issued and this process has been following that guidance, but this was issued publicly on July 19th.
On July 19th Comandante Ortega said: There will never again be elections here that allow the enemies of the People to take over the government and take power, because we cannot allow them to roll back what has cost so much and the advances that we have made. And he also said: We are going to work with the National Assembly, other Institutions and other Organizations to reform the Laws, in such a way that we guarantee that they will not prevail, they will not be able to, they will not be able to. More or less, that was, almost verbatim, what Comandante Daniel said.
We took on these orders and set to work, always under the guidance of the Presidency, the Co-Presidents, and began to propose concepts. But we want to make, in these 30 minutes, from now on, more or less a history of the work or, rather, an account of the processes that we have been developing.
So where do we start? Let's start with the history of Nicaragua.
When we were asked what we thought of Comandante Daniel's speech, our immediate reaction was to say it is a summary of the history of Nicaragua. That is to say, we cannot return to the times when they imposed on us a democracy that is not our democracy. For us, democracy is elections, but it's not just elections. That is to say, that is just one part, absolutely insignificant, for our concept of democracy.
Our democracy is the democracy of everyone's rights. The democracy of gender equity, 50-50. It is the democracy where we all have the same opportunities and, in addition, that the State has the responsibility to provide those opportunities to everyone. That is our democracy.
Our Democracy is aimed at deepening the power of the People and that is why our Democracy has been developing a concept which is the hallmark of the social structure we are organizing, which is called the People President. Because the People President are, in other words, the People-in-Chief, and that means that we have to do everything based on the interests of the People. This is the democracy we are building.
It is the democracy of developing the country economically, of securing resources, but directing all those resources to satisfy the interests of the People. So, little by little, we have been working on this model with the guidance of Comandante Daniel and Compañera Rosario. We are working and, therefore, instead of large private buildings, what are appearing are large public hospitals for all Nicaraguans.
The HEODRA in León, the Vélez Paíz here, the Choir of Angels, in Estelí; the Heroes of the Segovias Hospital, the Bilwi Hospital, the hospital that we are building in Bluefields, the hospital that we are going to build here, in the eastern part of Managua, the Lesbia Carrasquilla Hospital, the hundreds of hemodialysis units; that is, everything must be handed over to the one in charge which is the People of Nicaragua. So our concept of democracy goes far beyond voting.
Any action that goes against the rights of the People is an undemocratic action. Because the role of elections, as one component of our whole system, has to be dealt with based absolutely on the interests of the People. In other words, an electoral process or its development, or a voting process, cannot be allowed to hinder or destroy what we have been building. So, we're moving forward with that.
And why all of this, compañeras and compañeros? As you can see, there are three ideas guiding this Process: Stability, Security and Peace. But those three ideas are not put there simply as elements plucked out of the air.
These ideas are placed there as necessary, fundamental and indispensable elements for the common goal of all Nicaraguans. The common goal, which has been perfectly defined by Comandante Daniel and Compañera Rosario and which we are building with what we have just talked about, is the goal of defeating poverty. After all, the real enemy of all Nicaraguans, of everyone, whether they are Sandinistas or not, whether we are poor, doing ok or wealthy, is Poverty.
As long as there is Poverty, we cannot rest, because that is the fundamental objective defined by Comandante Daniel, Compañera Rosario and assimilated by the entire organization, by the Sandinista Front, by all the political parties accompanying us in this effort and by all the State Institutions. We have to defeat poverty and, to defeat it, we need Stability, without a doubt. We need security, categorically. And we need Peace, which you all guarantee for us in this regard.
In this journey that we have made, we began to see the history of our country. We were saying to ourselves: why did the Comandante put such emphasis that we must guarantee that containment wall, that barrier to the coup promoters and, above all, to those financed by foreign forces?
And the history of our country is this: Since the beginning of the last century, rather since the middle of the century before, we have had the demonstration of foreign intervention. I am no longer going to go back to Spanish colonialism, which we all know about and got rid of in 1821.
I'm going back to 1856, when a Yankee filibuster came and declared, “I'm the President of Nicaragua." He set up a charade and became President. There were three or four sell-outs, of which there are always some, who signed and made William Walker President of Nicaragua. But we Nicaraguans did not put up with such a thing and we expelled him, but that meant war, it meant division of the country.
Until there was a Liberal Revolution, but the Liberal Revolution ended up becoming a part of all the social structures that existed then. Later, Liberalism appeared as a revolutionary force. And Zelaya, who is a National Hero, was at the forefront of that Revolution. Darío, our great universal poet and anti-imperialist revolutionary, was even a Minister for Zelaya.
That is to say, that was indeed a revolution, but naturally, the enemy forces, the forces lurking, waiting to dominate, came, put pressure on Zelaya, sent their gunboats and there appeared as we remember, what we recall as the Knox note, via which the State Department and the Yankee government removed Zelaya.
And there stands the figure of a National Hero, General Benjamín Zeledón, and that figure, that National Hero, gave rise to a process, because Sandino, as a boy, saw how Benjamín Zeledón was dragged through the streets of Catarina and that gave rise to a fighting spirit that became the fighting spirit of Nicaragua, the hallmark, along with Darío and Sandino, of being Nicaraguan.
And the struggle began. But, in the midst of it all, the enemies, the sell-outs, called for intervention and intervention appeared. And here you can see how, in 1928, 1930 and 1932, elections were organized and directed by the occupation troops, here we can see it.
In 1928 the Marines appeared. Imagine how, after what happened in 1927 with the National Pact, that was a commitment by the Yankees to elevate the sell-out Moncada. So then, the Yankees, in 1928, introduced marines to control the electoral districts and, among other things, appointed Brigadier General Frank Ross McCoy as President of the National Elections Council, the intervention reached right up to that level.
So, they came along and said, "Yes, there are going to be elections. Since we need to guarantee that Moncada wins, we are going to appoint, so to speak, the president of the Supreme Electoral Council, General McCoy.” Moreover, these elections were based on a law that had been passed in 1923. An Electoral Law from 1923 that, if you look for it in the search engines, you will find it is known as Dodds’ Law.
Thanks to it being signed or created by a Yankee academic called Dodds, whom the Yankee government sent to be the adviser to the President of Nicaragua and to produce the electoral Law. That is to say, it was a law made by the Yankees, with the order that the Congress of that time should approve it on instructions from the Yankee Government. And on that there are the express telegrams and all the original documents. So, to execute and make that all a reality, they appointed a Yankee General as president of the National Electoral Council.
But, besides, not only that; in the historical records it appears that each voting urn was presided over by Yankee Marines. And that was the apparent Democracy, the false Democracy, which was after all Yankee intervention and Yankee domination disguised as Democracy. So, the Presidency gave us the guideline so as to have a solid argument. We can't go back to that; it's not possible, it doesn't sit well with us, it doesn't suit us.
But what was the idea? Before that, or any vote cast. What was the idea? What the Dodds Act did was to create a copy, more or less, of the Yankee model that established bipartisanship, which we all know from its historical parallels: the Liberals and Conservatives. It was then that the creation of bipartisanship occurred.
Here it is: In 1923 the electoral law known as the Dodds Act was enacted. In this Law the National Elections Council was established, which tried to institutionalize a bipartisan system, here the Conservative and the Liberal. For the Conservative Party there was Adolfo Díaz and, for the Liberal Party, Juan Bautista Sacasa. The former is the sell out who was sent to invite in the Yankees and the latter is the one who held the last dinner with General Sandino, so, that was the reality. Here’s the Electoral Law of April 1923.
This is the Dodds Election Act. But just to draw your attention, so that we have an idea of what the electoral population was and who was able to vote. We now say that everyone who is over the age of 16 and has their ballot paper votes. Back then, who was voting? Instead of saying that all Nicaraguans have the right to vote, to elect and to be elected, rather, here, from the beginning, a restrictive provision was established: “No citizen will have the right to vote if he does not meet the conditions and qualifications required by the Constitution.”
That's a fact, it's a general axiom. We can apply it to anyone. Now, the problem is this: what are those conditions? "The right to vote belongs only to Nicaraguan men 25 years of age or older.” Of course, you can say to me, “Yes, but that was 100 years ago”; but that was the spirit.
Now, let's do a calculation. That is to say, if I have a population of 100 and, to put it bluntly: 50 are women, I only have a voting population of 50 left. But, in addition, it says that they must be 21 years of age or older. That reduces the voting population, probably, to about 20% of people, because, at that time, the demographic structure indicated that the vast majority of Nicaraguans were under the age of 20.
But, in addition, those aged 18 or over could vote if they were married or could read and write. Imagine the level of literacy that existed at that time and, when it was said that they were married, the marriage referred to marriage by the church. It was the Liberal Revolution that talked about civil marriage and registrations, I understand that before it was like that, marriage had to be in Church.
That is why, even in our times, when birth certificates were processed, the faith of baptism was requested; that is, it was asked whether the person had been baptized or not, because, if he had not been baptized, he practically did not exist. That was the power that existed in those days. That was the power that the Liberal Revolution disrupted. That was the power that all those sectors with the surname Chamorro and other characters back then wanted to restore. And that's the power the Yankees were betting on, or are still betting on. But, well, there's the story.
After that, here is an important fact. They did not leave things that way and, on top of that Law, they mounted a reform via a decree. A decree, a reform that they called the McCoy Law, in honor of the person who was going to be put in charge and I'm dwelling on this whole story with you because it's important. You are a vital force for the defense, for the anti-imperialist sentiment of our country and for the security of our country.
Look at what level this was taking place at: Executive Power, Government portfolios and Police. This was like the Ministry of the Interior of that time; that's what it was called: the Ministry of the Interior and the Police. And it says: "In view of the fact that the Supreme Court of Justice, by agreement of the 17th of this month, has appointed, in place of Señor Doctor Don Joaquín Gómez, who submitted his resignation, Mr. General Frank Ross McCoy, becomes president of the National Elections Council, and this high official, in that capacity and because he was appointed by the President of the United States, must direct the 1928 electoral process for supreme authorities, as agreed in order to put an end to the civil war ravaging Nicaragua.”
That was how that law was introduced. After that came the Law’s adoption and the other elements. So, this is the antecedent, this is what is not going to come back. This is what we are destroying day by day, year by year and this is what we are destroying right now. That is why the false claim is made that everything is going to be done willy nilly. No, this is a reform by Nicaraguans for Nicaraguans, to organize elections in Nicaragua, where Nicaraguans vote and not foreign forces.
Now, here are two elements, or three, that perhaps, in the historical part, we need to remember. One of them, which we cannot forget, is that in 1990, in the elections of that year, they put a gun to our head. We respected the people's vote, we organized an absolutely clean election, but the Yankees still put a gun to our head.
That election was not a free choice. They told the Nicaraguan people: "If you vote for the Sandinistas, the war will continue." And the people are smart. Who wants war? and also, as part of the people, the Sandinista Front, Comandante Daniel, Compañera Rosario and our Comandantes were intelligent. At that point they said, "Yes, we’ll hand over power." And remember that Comandante Daniel said, "We are going to return by way of votes,” which is what we did, we returned to government by way of votes.
That is a process we cannot allow to happen again. And how did they achieve that? They created a doll, dressed her in white and created an illusion; but, in addition, they put the doll in white and pointed a gun at our head. So, we can't allow that again now.
Remember also, those who are over 40 years old, or maybe you can remember, that there was a gringo ambassador here, surnamed Garza, who went around delivering food packages together with the opposition candidate or, rather, with their candidate next to him, because at the time it was we who were in the opposition. They were delivering food packages. Can these be free elections? Is that democracy? No. Democracy is the elections that we are going to organize for Nicaraguans.
So, this objective, because this is Article 1 of the Constitution and that is the objective we have to deepen, argue for and never forget:
Independence, Sovereignty and National Self-Determination, Security and Peace are inalienable Rights of the People and foundations of the Nicaraguan nation. Any foreign interference in the internal affairs of Nicaragua or any attempt to undermine those Rights threatens the life of the People. It is the duty of all Nicaraguans to preserve and defend these rights. Consequently, all those who violate these Sacred Rights of the Nicaraguan People will be considered traitors to the Nation.
That is Article 1. It is complete, it is perfect, it is exact; but it must be internalized and its execution must be put into practice. So, we have to put the execution of all this into practice in the legal and juridical framework of the electoral processes.
For this, we have developed six concepts. Just so you know, this means that we are going to reform fourteen articles of the current Constitution, but in a Reform Law in which there will be six articles, because the proposal we have, and on which we want to hear your opinion, is that each Article expresses one of the concepts that we are going to reform.
The first concept is: "They will not prevail". We have to organize a Constitutional Reform Article under this concept: "They will not prevail". Article 47 of the Constitution states that: "Citizens have the right to elect and be elected and to run for public office, except for the limitations provided for in this Political Constitution.”
Therefore, Coup promoters may not be candidates for popularly elected positions, nor may they hold public offices by appointment of the Presidency or by election of the National Assembly. I doubt whether anyone is going to agree that a coup leader can be allowed to be a candidate for something.
Nor will “those who have committed or are carrying out acts that undermine the Independence, Sovereignty and Self-determination of Nicaragua” be able to do so. That is, those who violate Article 1 of the Constitution. Traitors to the Nation and not only those who are currently traitors, but also those who may do so, because remember that this is the result of due judicial Process: you are accused of a crime and, if it is determined that you are guilty of treason, you are a traitor to the Nation.
Now, a traitor to the Nation loses their nationality. You cannot exercise those Rights at all. Nor may “Those who violate or have violated the fundamental principles contemplated in the Political Constitution”. That's the first concept: "They won't prevail”, and we're going to organize that in an Article.
Now, we wanted to put this paragraph of what we propose to be the written text in its entirety, because it is not enough to say: "Those who undermine or threaten Independence, Sovereignty and Self-Determination." And too, just to be clear: “Those who incite or promote foreign interference, call for military intervention, organize with financing from abroad, propose, manage or support economic, commercial or financial blockades and sanctions against the State of Nicaragua, its institutions and its citizens.” To make clear what it is to be a traitor and who are the people who will not prevail.
The second concept is Stability. In this concept we say that we need, as we have already seen, Stability to fight poverty; stability that, together with Security and Peace, guarantees the fight against poverty. So, in relation to this concept of Stability, we have reviewed it and there are various electoral periods in the world. There are countries that have periods of four years; others, of five; others, of six.
Recently, there was a country that changed from five to six years. Recently, we had changed from five to six years ourselves. So, in that discussion, what seems to us an acceptable period to develop medium-term and even long-term projects, in this fight against poverty, is seven years.
So, there the wording is the following: “The period established in the Political Constitution of the Republic of Nicaragua for popularly elected positions and for those elected or ratified by the National Assembly is seven years." That's the approach we’re taking.
So then, another concept is "Cohesion and Security". To be coherent or to be cohesive, because it is not just about the popular elections, the popularly elected positions or the appointed positions, but also what has to do with the Army and the Police.
So, in this concept it is made clear, through an Article, that this is the third concept: “The periods of appointment of the Commander-in-Chief of the Military Forces of the Nicaraguan Army and of the Chiefs of the Nicaraguan Police Forces will be seven years.” Why? To make it consistent with everything else.
So, that's why we put Cohesion and Security into it. Why? Because these are the forces which, together with the People, remember that our concept is that of the People President which constitutes the vital force to be able to build what we are building and it is the People who are that main force. All of us are mechanisms, instruments and auxiliaries of the People's power, so the period is seven years.
Then comes the issue of the powers of the Supreme Electoral Council. I was thinking that, maybe, we can assess at the meeting we have if it can be changed for another of our concepts, for example, “Our Democracy”. Because this is the instrument of the democratic electoral function.
This has to do with the powers of the Supreme Electoral Council. As you saw in Article 1, or in the first concept, and in the other concepts, we are already talking about the official posts being every seven years, in other words, the period of the official posts. We have to make it clear that elections should be held every seven years and we have to make it clear that the instrument of the State that directs and organizes the elections, which is the Supreme Electoral Council, should have the power to convene them every seven years.
And that's what we're trying to establish here:
To organize and direct the General, Municipal and Regional Elections every seven years, in the corresponding election year.
Why? Because the national elections are held, the following year the municipal ones and, subsequently, the regional ones. This is paragraph 1 of Article 152.
And these other two elements are added to paragraph 12 of Article 152: "Not to grant legal personality to political parties constituted with foreign financing or when some of their directors have violated the fundamental principles of this Political Constitution.” And, "To cancel the legal personality of the political party when it, its directors or its candidates receive foreign funding or have violated the fundamental principles."
If on the one hand we say that those people lose their political rights, on the other hand we say that the Supreme Electoral Council must guarantee that, both for candidates and for Parties.
And, in number 14:
To verify and impose the corresponding sanctions on any candidate, official of the Electoral Body and member of the Executive Board of political parties who commits or has committed acts that undermine the Independence, Sovereignty and Self-determination of Nicaragua.
And there we put back the paragraph that I read to you, where those who call for military intervention and those who promote foreign interference are mentioned, because that must be repeated for them, so that it is clear. That is the concept of “They will not prevail”, which Comandante Ortega transmitted to us: there will be no elections allowing them to return. So, yes, there will be elections, but we are going to guarantee that these demons do not return.
The transfer of government, constitutionally, was set for January 10th and we were committing a huge injustice. January 18th is the birth of Ruben Dario. So, we are going to propose the amendment of Articles 123 and 130 of the Constitution, so we can be clear that the inauguration date of the Co-Presidency of the Republic will be January 18th in tribute to our National Hero and Universal Poet, Rubén Darío.
And, of course, since the National Assembly is installed a day earlier, it is necessary to modify Article 130, so that it establishes that January 17th is when the Deputies take office and the National Assembly is installed, which is the one that inaugurates the following day. So, we put “PAX” to this concept, which is the poem by Rubén Darío, a very beautiful one that should be read.
And finally, this is the last one. There are six concepts; that's why we named them, so that we don't forget, they are relatively easy. First, “They will not prevail”; then, “Stability”; then, “Cohesion and Security”; then, what is related to the “Supreme Electoral Council”, that is, the guarantee of Democracy; then, “PAX”; and, finally, “Coherence”.
This is the last one: ”Coherence": Many people asked, when we started working on it, and we lived it in the experience of last year: "Well, and what is going to happen with those who are currently in their positions, with those who have resulted from a previous electoral process or with those who have been elected or appointed before?". Because at the moment this is incorporated into the Constitution as of now. So, what's going to happen?
Let there be no doubt and let everyone be clear. That's why we call it “Coherence”, because the change must also be consistent with reality. So, there are three numerals, under this concept.
By mandate and strict observance of the Constitutional Supremacy:
The terms of the authorities elected by popular vote in the last general, municipal and regional elections in force are extended to seven years.
So, that mandate remains. This is a kind of transitional measure within the Constitutional Reform Law.
The term of office of the positions appointed by the President of the Republic or by election or ratification of the National Assembly is extended to seven years.
In all national legislation stipulating or regulating a term of office, it shall be understood to have been fully reformed and it shall be established that the term of office is for seven years.
With that we give coherence to everything. The official posts appear here, we put them here because there are quite a few, but just to get an idea what those posts are:
The Commander-in-Chief of the Military and Police Forces; the Chiefs; the Magistrates of the Supreme Court; the Magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Council; the Attorney General of Justice; the Members of the Superior Council of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic; the President of the Central Bank; the Members of the Financial Monetary Council; the Superintendent and the Vice-superintendent of Banks; the President or the Members of the Executive Board of the Production Development Bank; the Members of the Board of Directors of the National Microfinance Commission; the Members of the Administrative Tax Customs Tribunal; the Members of the National Council of Administration and Judicial Career; the Board of Directors of the INE; the Director or Executive Director of the National Water Authority; and the Members of the Civil Service Appeal Commission.
Those are the official posts referred to, just to give us an idea. With this we believe we are going to make, and with your support and ideas, a Constitutional Reform Law that responds to the mandate of Comandante Daniel and Compañera Rosario and, above all, to the needs of the People and to the path we have taken in the fight against poverty.
We also hope that, once and for all, all of Nicaragua will participate, because we are going to carry out a very broad Consultation Process and a broad dissemination Process, and we are going to continue working. We hope that, in each of the cases and each of the people with whom we are working will also be transformed into a standard-bearer, a defender and a disseminator of the need for these reforms.
That is to say, now we have to put it plainly: we cannot allow a Yankee to come and tell us how things should be done again. They're not going to be able to, because that doesn't suit us; but, furthermore, we have to leave it constitutionally established. Remember that the Constitution is the basis, the foundation; that is why it is called the Fundamental Law, it is what gives legal life to the Country and the Nation. What is there we must defend with life itself, we know that and that is what we have to do.
Well, now I pass the floor to the Compañera.