7 de May 2025
AA
Share
On Wednesday, May 7, 2025, the Nicaraguan Army announced that it will respect the constitutional reform that introduced the figure of “co-presidents” and designates Rosario Murillo, alongside her husband, co-president Daniel Ortega, as the supreme chiefs of the Armed Forces.
The announcement was made by the head of the Nicaraguan Army, General Julio César Avilés, during a two-day working meeting with the corps of generals, senior officers, and extended chain of command, which he chaired alongside Chief of the General Staff Bayardo Rodríguez and Inspector General Marvin Elías Corrales.
“In this meeting, we reiterated that we are worthy representatives of our heroic people’s tradition of struggle for the dignity and freedom of the homeland; and that we will all respect what is established in our Constitution. Nothing and no one will make us change our firm determination to move forward alongside our people and supreme authorities with the dignity of our General [Augusto C.] Sandino,” said the military chief, who has led the Armed Forces since 2010.
“We are all committed to strengthening our capabilities to firmly contribute to ensuring that our homeland always enjoys the best conditions of security, stability, and tranquility — and above all, its greatest aspiration: peace. We will defend, to our last breath, the inalienable and fundamental rights of the Nicaraguan nation to uphold independence, sovereignty, national self-determination, and peace, as established in the Political Constitution,” he added.
During the two-day closed-door meeting, the scope of the reforms to the Constitution and to the Law on the Code of Military Organization, Jurisdiction, and Social Welfare were presented, according to the military report.
In addition, key lines of work and various plans currently being developed by the Army were outlined and coordinated. These efforts are said to be aimed at defending peace, sovereignty, independence, self-determination, and territorial integrity — for the benefit of all Nicaraguans, without exception.
What the revised Constitution and Military Code say
Murillo, appointed “co-president” through a constitutional reform that took effect in February 2025, was named supreme commander of the Armed Forces through the reform of the Military Code. The updated code states that the Army “will be subordinate to civilian authority, which shall be exercised by the Presidency of the Republic as the Supreme Command of the Nicaraguan Army, as established by the Constitution.”
The Presidency of the Republic is composed of a co-president and a co-president, which in this case is Ortega and Murillo, according to the constitutional reform.
Under the reform to the Military Code, the Presidency will have authority over the Armed Forces in accordance with the Political Constitution and the law.
It may also exercise political leadership over the state’s armed defense and order the start of military operations in the event of external aggression.
Likewise, it may order the intervention of the Nicaraguan Army in support of the National Police when the stability of the Republic requires it.
Additionally, the Presidency has the power to appoint, upon recommendation by the Military Council, the Commander-in-Chief of the Nicaraguan Army, and to remove them in cases of insubordination, disobedience of orders issued by the Presidency and Supreme Command of the Army in the exercise of its powers, or for having been convicted of serious or very serious crimes.
Another power granted to the Presidency is the ability to order military mobilization in case of a national emergency.
On the other hand, the reform to the Military Code establishes that the Patriotic Reserve Military Forces, a figure created in the constitutional reform and integrated by retired military personnel, are part of the Nicaraguan Army and “are destined for the armed defense of the nation, to guarantee stability, security and peace”.
Paramilitary-like “Reserve Forces” within the Army
The Ortega-Murillo regime also approved the creation of a “Patriotic Military Reserve” within the Nicaraguan Army, effectively allowing for a paramilitary-like force within the country’s Armed Forces.
The Patriotic Reserve Forces “will be voluntarily composed of officers, officials, non-commissioned officers, rank-and-file soldiers, and sailors who have honorably retired or been discharged from the Nicaraguan Army, as well as any citizen who wishes to participate in the armed defense of the nation,” according to the second paragraph of Article 17 of the Code of Military Organization, Jurisdiction and Social Welfare — also known as the Military Code or Law 181 — which was approved on Wednesday, March 26, 2025.
Analysts on national security issues, consulted by CONFIDENCIAL, warn that the real purpose of this Patriotic Military Reserve is to “intimidate the population”. Because it is something similar to what the National Police did when it swore in 76,887 hooded people as “volunteer policemen”.
With information from EFE
