There's a good reason why many people call Nicaragua the "North Korea of the Western Hemisphere." Over the weekend, the country's dictator, Daniel Ortega, solidified that sentiment by announcing that the nation would no longer hold elections and that his family would rule forever.
Living in the United States, it's easy to turn away. Who cares about Nicaragua? Well, there are many reasons to care, ranging fact that Russia treats it like a military base just a few miles from our shores to the fact that the gross human rights abuses taking place there drive mass migration to our country.
There's also the fact that the de facto leader of one of the fastest-growing and scariest political movements in our country just happens to be a big fan of Ortega's.
Earlier this week, a mid-1980s-era video of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) resurfaced online, and in it, he's talking about what an "impressive guy" Ortega is.
"As a socialist, the word 'socialism' doesn't frighten me, and I think it's probably fair to say that the Nicaraguan government is a socialist government," Sanders said.
The reporter he's speaking with later asks him how he finds the "sincerity of Sandinista leaders," and he says he was impressed. He mentions a few of them, but he calls Ortega specifically an "impressive guy."
Of course, this came at a time when Sanders, as the mayor of Burlington, Vt., decided he'd run his own shadow foreign policy that countered President Ronald Reagan's (similar to what we're seeing commie leftists do in our country today—whether it's members of Congress propping up the Cuban regime or Zohran Mamdani saying he would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu. Some things never change). Specifically, Sanders created a sister-city relationship with Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua in 1984 as a protest against Reagan’s Contra policy.
In 1985, Sanders traveled to Nicaragua himself and met with Ortega. He also attended a big Sandinista anniversary rally. In the video, he explains how he coached the Nicaraguan government on how to "organize their PR more effectively," as the reporter put it. He explained how Reagan "owns the airwaves," and the media isn't allowed to ask the president "sharp questions." Because of this, he told Ortega that he wasn't getting his message out to the American people and would need to improve his ability to communicate with the average American to win them over.
You can watch the entirety of Sanders' remarks here (and also, why did he look the same in 1985 as he does in 2026?):
Breaking: Nicaragua’s dictator, Daniel Ortega, announced today that his country will no longer hold elections.
— Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) July 21, 2026
Here’s @BernieSanders celebrating his role in advising Ortega after he took power, and praising the very socialist dictator who has now abolished elections. https://t.co/hkoBGPjJbx pic.twitter.com/nAl4ddHSj1
Back to Ortega. Here's just a small list of things this "impressive guy," according to Sanders, has done in recent years:
- Killed hundreds of opposition protesters for speaking out in 2018
- Jailed any opposition leader who ran against him and held sham elections in 2021
- Held political prisoners incommunicado, some of whom have died in custody.
- Stripped the citizenship of hundreds of Nicaraguans, forcing them into exile
- Did away with independent media
- Shut down universities
- Stopped allowing Bibles and other books to be brought into the country
- Did away with any charities attempting to address the country's humanitarian crisis
- Cracked down on the Catholic church, arrested clergy, and banned religious processions
- Made his wife "co-president" and put their children in various political posts
- Allowed Russia full access to train Nicaraguan police in repression tactics
- Allowed Russian intelligence and military advisors a permanent presence in the country
- Granted massive mining concessions to China
- Allowed China access to the country's infrastructure
- Drove 800,000 Nicaraguans (roughly 13% of the population) to flee the country
- Consolidated control over the judiciary, police, and military
- Diverted public funds and state assets to fund the family and its repression apparatus
I mean, I can go on, but I think you get the idea.
This video I'm referring to actually came up during a 2016 presidential debate, and Sanders tried to backtrack a bit and explain that what he was actually saying was that the United States was wrong to try to support people who wanted to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. His opponent, Hillary Clinton, wasn't having it, though. She claimed that in an unaired portion of the video, Sanders praised the "revolution of values" in countries like Nicaragua and Cuba.
"I think in that same interview he praised what he called the revolution of values in Cuba and talked about how people were working for the common good, not for themselves. I just couldn't disagree more," she said. "You know, if the values are that you oppress people, you disappear people, imprison people or even kill people for expressing their opinions, for expressing freedom of speech, that is not the kind of revolution of values that I ever want to see anywhere."
According to Politico, "Sanders acknowledged that Cuba is undemocratic and authoritarian and expressed hope that the country would change." However, he went on to praise some of the country's advances and suggested the United States restore full diplomatic relations.
Unless I've missed it, Sanders has not spoken out about Ortega's recent announcement about elections in Nicaragua. I think he's probably too busy at the moment propping up his own commie candidates in the United States who want to bring that exact type of government to a city or state near you.
