( Spanish) – The government of Nicaragua reported this Monday of the death at the age of 77 of retired General Humberto Ortega Saavedra, former Minister of Defense and brother of President Daniel Ortega.
In a statement released by official media, he added that Ortega Saavedra died at the Dr. Alejandro Dávila Bolaños Military School Hospital, “after a prolonged illness.”
This Sunday, the Hospital had reported that Ortega Saavedra had suffered cardiogenic shock.
Humberto Ortega had suffered a “cardiogenic shock” this Sunday, which occurs when the heart cannot supply enough blood and oxygen to the body’s organs“with altered state of consciousness” which worsened his health, according to the Dr. Alejandro Ávila Bolaños Military School Hospital in this country.
Ortega, who had a history of chronic high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and a pacemaker, was hospitalized on June 11 due to chronic heart failure, among other conditions, in the intensive care unit.
In the following weeks, according to the statement, the former commander managed to overcome the severity “under special treatment and care” and remained stable, but delicate, until September 29, when his health had worsened.
Humberto Ortega served in the Sandinista Army during the civil war against the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza.
He was the second of three brothers and fought alongside his brother Daniel Ortega to overthrow the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza backed by the United States in 1979. In recent times he had been critical of his brother, President Daniel Ortega.
With information from Gerardo Lemos, Djenane Villanueva and Reuters
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