Nicaragua's Ortega expands power as reforms win final approval

By Gabriela Selser

(Reuters) -Constitutional reforms proposed by Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega to further consolidate power by extending his control over other parts of government won final approval on Thursday after a unanimous vote.

The reforms have been defended by government allies as deepening a nearly 50-year-old revolution, but blasted by critics as a power grab from an increasingly dictatorial family dynasty.

Unveiled by the 79-year-old Ortega in November, the wide-ranging reforms formally empower the presidency to "coordinate" judicial and legislative duties, allow it to order the army to intervene to support the police, and permit security agents to temporarily take executive branch positions under orders.

"We have to go step by step and make it clear that Nicaragua's government is a revolutionary government, even if that hurts some people's feelings," said Congress head Gustavo Porras in January.

The reforms also expand already extensive state control over media and formally change the role of the vice president, held by Ortega's wife, Rosario Murillo, to that of "co-president," while extending the presidential term to six years. A previous constitutional reform already allows for unlimited presidential reelection.

Under the new scheme, either co-president can name an unlimited number of vice presidents, which has generated speculation that one or more of Ortega and Murillo's eight children living in Nicaragua could eventually be picked; several already have senior government jobs or help lead state media outlets.

In the event of Ortega's death, Murillo, 73, would now automatically take power without needing a new election. 

Passed by lawmakers from Ortega's Sandinista Front that control Congress, the reforms take effect once published in the government gazette.

"These grotesque changes sound the death knell for the rule of law and basic freedoms in Nicaragua," said Reed Brody, a member of a group of United Nations experts that has investigated human rights abuses in the country.

Ortega now oversees "a fully authoritarian regime," added Brody, with powers to use the army for policing and to deploy an expanded "volunteer" police force as additional enforcers.

The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed a "deep concern" over the concentration of power, restriction of freedom of expression and provisions institutionalizing the state's power to strip citizens' nationality for the broadly defined crime of treason.

"The approved constitutional reform violates the international obligations assumed by Nicaragua," it said, urging the state to review its policies.

A one-time leftist rebel, Ortega initially came to power in 1979 when he and fellow guerrillas overthrew a right-wing family dynasty, and for years acted as a leading Cold War-era antagonist of the United States.

He is in his fourth consecutive term as president, after returning to power in 2007.

(Reporting by Gabriela Selser; Writing by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Kylie Madry and Richard Chang)