Rafael Solís Cerda (born July 25, 1953 in Managua) is a Nicaraguan attorney, politician and former Justice of the

Supreme Court of Justice A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

(CSJ) of

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

. He served on the Supreme Court for 19 years before resigning in January 2019. Before joining the Supreme Court, Solís had served in the Nicaraguan legislature and as a military leader.

Early life

Solís grew up in a wealthy Catholic family and attended the

Colegio Centro América The Colegio Centro América is a private Catholic school located in Managua, Nicaragua. Founded by the Jesuits in the city of Granada in 1916, the school serves as an elementary, middle, and high school. The school quickly became the preferred ...

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicara ...

. He studied law at

Central American University José Simeón Cañas Central American University ( es, Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas"), also known as UCA El Salvador, is a private university with nonprofit purposes in San Salvador, El Salvador, run by the Society of Jesus. ...

in Managua, where he became a student leader.

Career

In the 1970s, Solís joined the

Sandinista National Liberation Front The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a Socialism, socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after ...

, fighting in Managua. During the

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

he worked closely with Sandinista leader

Daniel Ortega José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguans, Nicaraguan revolutionary and politician serving as President of Nicaragua since 2007. Previously he was leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as coordinator of the ...

and became a long-time Ortega ally. Solís was the best man at Ortega's wedding to

Rosario Murillo Rosario María Murillo Zambrana (; born 22 June 1951) is a Nicaraguan politician and poet who has held the position of Vice President of Nicaragua, the country's second highest office, since January 2017 and First Lady of Nicaragua since 2007 ...

in 2005. After the revolution in 1979, Solís joined the

Sandinista Popular Army The Sandinista Popular Army (SPA) (or People's Army; , EPS) was the military forces established in 1979 by the new Sandinista government of Nicaragua to replace the Nicaraguan National Guard, following the overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. I ...

and was its representative in the Council of State. Shortly after, he became the Nicaraguan

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

for the

Junta of National Reconstruction The Junta of National Reconstruction (''Junta de Gobierno de Reconstrucción Nacional'') was the provisional government of Nicaragua from the fall of the Somoza dictatorship in July 1979 until January 1985, with the election of Sandinista Nation ...

. Following his return to

, Solís became the First Secretary of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

from 1985 to 1990, a period in which the current

Constitution of Nicaragua The Constitution of Nicaragua was reformed due to a negotiation of the executive and legislative branches in 1995. The reform of the 1987 Sandinista Constitution gave extensive new powers and independence to the National Assembly of Nicaragua, Nati ...

was approved by the Assembly. In 1990 when

Violeta Chamorro Violeta Barrios Torres de Chamorro (; 18 October 1929) is a Nicaraguan politician who served as President of Nicaragua from 1990 to 1997. She was the first and, as of 2022, only woman to hold the position of president of Nicaragua. Born into ...

was elected President, defeating the FSLN, Solis was nevertheless re-elected legislator in the

. Solís was a Justice on the

(CSJ) of

for 19 years. He served as Vice-President of the Court and as a member of both its Constitutional Appeal and Criminal Appeal chambers. He was a key figure in the 2009 CSJ decision to remove presidential term limits, effectively allowing Ortega to continue to run for re-election, a decision Solis later said he regretted. Solis resigned the Court on January 8, 2019, issuing a public letter in protest of what he described as "a state of terror" imposed by Ortega since

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

broke out in the country in April 2018, with hundreds of deaths ensuing. Solis disputed Ortega's claim that violence in the country resulted from a foreign-backed attempted coup, and predicted that unless pro-Ortega paramilitary groups were disarmed, opposition groups would arm as well, eventually leading to civil war, particularly as the country's economic situation deteriorated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Solis, Rafael 1953 births Living people Nicaraguan judges Central American University (Managua) alumni People educated at Colegio Centro América