section_path: Early political career
section_name: Early political career
paragraph_text: Early political career
  
  Murillo started to gain power politically in 1998 after her daughter, Zoilamérica Ortega Murrillo, accused her stepfather Ortega of sexually abusing her for many years. Murillo defended Ortega and said that the accusations were "a total falsehood" while also publicly shunning her daughter, who has still maintained that her accusations were true. Although Zoilamérica tried to pursue legal action, Ortega had immunity as a member of the National Assembly. The case was thrown out by the Supreme Court in 2001 because the statute of limitations had expired.
  
  Ortega was elected president in 2006 and re-elected in 2011. In the 2016 general election, Murillo ran as Ortega's vice-presidential candidate. She was "widely seen as the power behind the presidency", according to Al Jazeera 's Lucia Newman.
  
  During her vice presidency, a series of protests broke out, resulting in 309 deaths by July 2018, some 25 of the casualties being under the age of 17. Murillo and presidential aide Néstor Moncada Lau were sanctioned by the United States as part of an executive order issued by U.S. President Donald Trump on 27 November 2018.