Spoiler alert. Daniel Ortega is seeking his fourth consecutive presidential term in Nicaragua and his regime is leaving little to chance, given that it jailed opponents, stacked the electoral bodies, and used the pandemic as a tool to control rivals’ campaigns. That’s why the country’s democratic future depends on what the opposition does after this Sunday’s election, explains Tiziano Breda, Central America analyst at the International Crisis Group, in the latest episode of Latin America in Focus. 

In this Q&A, AS/COA’s Eric Farnsworth warns that what happens in Nicaragua “is going to have broader implications for the region in terms of other leaders who may be similarly inclined” and calls for the international community to have a unified voice in demanding the release of political prisoners. 

Watch his conversation with exiled Nicaraguan journalist Carlos Chamorro. 

Keep up with AS/COA Online’s coverage in our 2021 Election Guide.

THEY SAID WHAT?

• Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama commit to creating a Pacific marine preserve. (The Guardian)
• The pandemic made Latin America’s rich even richer. Financial Times profiles some of the Latin American billionaires looking to tackle inequality.
• Brazil’s startup economy continues to boom. (The Wall Street Journal) 
• Legislators in Mexico’s governing coalition push back the vote on a controversial electricity reform to April 2022. (El Economista)
• Facebook removes thousands of Nicaraguan accounts it sees as part of a troll farm. (BBC) 

• Honduras vaccinates 8,000 Nicaraguans in an October border immunization drive. (Reuters) 
• At the G20 summit, Mexico’s foreign minister asked world powers to recognize all effective vaccines, including those not yet approved by the WHO. (Los Angeles Times)