Luis Carrión Cruz

Luis Fernando Carrión Cruz (born 1952) is a Nicaraguan politician. He is a former guerilla and one of the nine commandantes of the Sandinista (FSLN) National Directorate that overthrew the Somoza regime in 1979. Born to a wealthy, politically-connected family, he began college in the United States but returned to Nicaragua, first joining a radical Catholic group then the FSLN. He led the Carlos Roberto Huembes Eastern Front in Chontales during the final offensive of the revolution. He was a government minister and member of the FSLN National Directorate until 1995 when he split with party and became a cofounder of the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS).

Early life Born in 1952, Carrión grew up in a wealthy family in Nicaragua.

Carrión led the Carlos Roberto Huembes Eastern Front in Chontales during the final offensive of the revolution.

Sandinista Renovation Movement He resigned the National Directorate and the FSLN party in 1995, becoming one of the founders of the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) with Sergio Ramírez and Dora María Téllez. In 2005 and 2006, Carrión was head of the MRS campaign for Herty Lewites,

During the 2018 anti-government protests and wave of repression from the FSLN government, Carrión called for Ortega to step down.

In June 2021, following the arrests of opposition pre-candidates in the 2021 Nicaraguan general election and other civic figures, Carrión went into exile saying he faced arrest if he stayed in Nicaragua.

In 2023, Carrión was stripped of his Nicaraguan citizenship.

Personal life Many of Carrión's family members are also involved in Nicaraguan politics. These include his brother Carlos Carrión Cruz, who was head of the Sandinista Youth and then Political Secretary for the FSLN, and sister Gloria Carrión Cruz, General Secretary of AMNLAE, the Sandinista women's group; as well as uncle Arturo Cruz and cousins Arturo Cruz Jr. (both of whom served as Nicaraguan political officials and diplomats)