Speaking out against my abuser: Daniel Ortega

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 6 March 2019

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In March 1998 Zoilamérica Narváez publicly accused her step-father, Nicaragua's revolutionary leader, Daniel Ortega of having sexually abused her since she was a child. The 31-year-old Narváez said that the abuse had continued for almost twenty years. Ortega, who was re-elected as Nicaragua's president for a third consecutive term in 2016, has consistently denied the accusations. Mike Lanchin has been speaking to Zoilamérica Narváez about her disturbing story.

Photo: Zoilamerica Narváez announces in a press conference that she is filing a law suit against her stepfather Daniel Ortega, March 1998 (RODRIGO ARANGUA/AFP/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC
0:35.4	Sounds.
0:36.4	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:40.9	My name's Linda Davies and I commissioned
0:43.0	podcast for BBC Sounds.
0:45.0	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality,
0:49.0	featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:54.4	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
1:00.9	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories.
1:04.4	And that's just a few examples.
1:06.3	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected,
1:09.4	find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. Hello and welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Mike Lanchen.
1:18.0	You might have heard of Daniel Ortega, he was the Mustachedached young revolutionary who led the overthrow of the US-backed
1:26.3	Somosa dictatorship in Nicaragua in July of 1979. He went on to become president of the leftist Sandinista government and an icon for liberation
1:37.0	movements across Latin America and beyond.
1:40.8	But in March of 1998 Daniel Ortega was accused by his own stepdaughter, Zoyler America, of having sexually abused her since she was a little girl.
1:52.0	He has always denied the accusations.
	...

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