MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Political polarization, intolerance and social disintegration are threatening the peace and democracy that Nicaragua has fought so hard to achieve over the past 30 years, warns retired Gen. Humberto Ortega, the former head of the Sandinista Popular Army (EPS) and Nicaraguan Armed Forces.

Meet the president's brother: Humberto Ortega, the former head of the Sandinista Popular Army and the Nicaraguan Armed Forces, speaks to The Nica Times in an exclusive interview.

Tim Rogers | Nica Times

He is also President Daniel Ortega's brother.

“The most important product of the revolutionary process in the 20th century, which was very difficult and bloody, is peace and democracy. And we can't put that at risk now,” Humberto Ortega, told The Nica Times in an exclusive interview, his first given to the foreign press in nearly a decade.

Gen. Ortega was one of the most powerful and controversial figures of the Sandinista Revolution.

Retired from politics and military life, the former general now warns that political polarization and social disintegration in Nicaragua is “dangerous because it could put in real danger the historical achievements” of the revolution.

“We all need to prevent Nicaragua from returning to war. That would be to betray the blood of all the Nicaraguans who fought,” Gen. Ortega said.

See the Sept. 11 print or digital edition of The Nica Times for the exclusive interview.