Nicaraguan police are arresting opponents and even dissidents from the ruling party in an offensive less than five months into the November presidential elections, which has already been criticized by the international community.
In the last two weeks, the security forces apprehended four opposition candidates who sought to end Ortega’s 14 consecutive years in power. The string of arrests in Nicaragua began on June 2 with the arrest of presidential candidate Cristiana Chamorro, daughter of former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997), whom they accuse of money laundering.
Also detained are the former diplomat Arturo Cruz, the political scientist Félix Maradiaga and the economist Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Cristiana’s cousin. The government considers opponents detained on charges of “inciting foreign intervention” to be “usurpers” financed by the United States to overthrow President Ortega.
José Antonio Peraza, member of the opposition coalition “Blue and White National Unity”, assured that despite the fact that the electoral process “is weakened” the opposition will look for other candidates to fight at the polls.
“The dictatorship wants everyone to say ‘it’s over’ (…) but we cannot give up the elections. The only option we have is the electoral one,” Peraza confessed in an interview with Reuters. “We have no alternative.”
Human rights defenders and international organizations maintain that Ortega has torpedoed Nicaragua’s democratic institutions and stifled dissent during his third consecutive term, which began in 2017.
In 2018, a wave of anti-government protests unleashed a state crackdown that left more than 300 dead. The backlash prompted the United States to blacklist top Nicaraguan officials, including Murillo.
The United States imposed sanctions on four Nicaraguan officials on June 9, including President Daniel Ortega’s daughter, and Washington warned that it will continue to use diplomatic and economic tools against members of the left-wing government that undermine democracy.
“These sanctions demonstrate that there are costs for those who support or carry out the repression of the Ortega regime,” Blinken said in a statement.
These arrests have already been condemned by the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United States government. Although Mexico has expressed “its concern,” it has also been against intervening in that country’s internal affairs, which led them not to support a resolution debated Tuesday in the OAS Permanent Council.
Also against the Sandinistas
In the following days, several others have been arrested, including five dissidents from the Sandinista movement that brought Ortega to power in the late 1970s. Among those arrested are former guerrillas Dora MarÃa Téllez and Ana Margarita Vigil GuardÃas, both leaders. from the opposition Unión Democrática Renovadora (Unamos, a Sandinista dissidence), police said in a statement.
The president of Unamos, Suyen Barahona Cuan, and her vice president, the retired general, the Sandinista dissident Hugo Torres, were also detained.
And on Sunday night the police confirmed the arrest of former vice chancellor and now dissident VÃctor Hugo Tinoco, under the accusation of “inciting foreign interference in internal affairs” and “requesting military interventions” against the government of Daniel Ortega, according to reported the National Police.
Three days after his arrest, the police raided his house, according to his daughter Cristian Tinoco, who through a video transmitted on social networks desperately asked for help, in a country that is going through a deep socio-political crisis.
“There are only women here, there is me, who am a cancer patient, there is my grandmother, a 90-year-old lady who is in a (wheel) chair, my mother who is 65 years old. help, we ask the media, please come forward, please, we are asking for help, we have not done anything wrong, “said the woman with a desperate voice and obvious traces of chemotherapy.
Relatives of the so-called “political prisoners” whose homes have been raided, have denounced excessive violence by the agents, whom they have accused of not having a judicial order, as well as handcuffing and then beating the captured persons.
Sources close to the family of the also former dissident Sandinista guerrilla informed the EFE agency that minutes after the broadcast, at least four women were held incommunicado inside the house, located on the outskirts of Managua.
Organizations such as the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) and the Human Rights Collective Nicaragua Never Again, repudiated the police action at Tinoco’s house.
… And businessmen
This Wednesday, the executive president of the Bank of Production (Banpro) of Nicaragua, Luis Rivas Anduray, was apprehended for “inciting foreign interference”, based on a law that the government of Daniel Ortega applies to opponents.
Rivas, also director of operations of Grupo Promérica, which brings together several financial entities on the continent, joins another 13 detained by the police in recent days, among candidates for the presidency and critics of the government.
According to a police statement, Rivas is being investigated, among other crimes, for “proposing and managing economic, commercial and financial blockades against the country and its institutions.”
Banpro Grupo Promérica affirmed in a statement that it operates in Nicaragua with “adherence to current laws.” “We are sure of the moral quality of Dr. Rivas and we trust that his situation will be clarified,” he added.
Rivas, singled out for “demanding, exalting and applauding the imposition of sanctions against the State of Nicaragua and its citizens,” is the second figure in the business world to be detained in the Central American country.
The leader of the business union, José Adán Aguerri, was arrested a week ago under the same charges.
Banpro, founded in 1991, is one of the most important banks in Nicaragua and a member of Grupo Promérica, with subsidiaries in Central and South America.
In Ortega’s latest move against the opposition, a Nicaraguan judge on Wednesday ordered the lifting of banking secrecy, freezing accounts and turning over financial and tax information on 13 businessmen opposed to the Nicaraguan government.
According to a document released Wednesday night by Nicaragua’s financial regulator, the Superintendency of Banks, on the list are José Antonio Baltodano, one of the largest coffee exporters, and Jaime Montealegre, a real estate investor in Central America and the Dominican Republic. .
Both, along with bankers and other exporters, are being investigated by the attorney general’s office for alleged “financial operations derived from illicit activities” carried out by FUNIDES, a business analysis center whose board of directors they formed between 2015 and 2019, according to the office.
FUNIDES was led by presidential candidate Juan Sebastián Chamorro, arrested last week.
No conditions for democratic elections
In addition to the recent arrests of candidates for the presidency by the opposition, cases of violence in the electoral context of Nicaragua are growing and reached the figure of 721 until last May, to average more than 90 violent incidents per month since last October, reported on Wednesday the independent group Urnas Abiertas.
The acts of political violence were “carried out in 90.56% by the National Police,” the report highlighted. Urnas Abierta indicated that the violence intensified as of May 11, when the Supreme Electoral Council released the calendar of the electoral process, which will have its main day on November 7, during the voting day.
“As of that date, the political violence exercised by the Nicaraguan State against dissident voices has deepened, focusing on this new repressive wave against presidential candidates and councilors, as well as opposition leaders, in the form of judicial persecution,” explained the observatory.
A day earlier, the OAS “unequivocally” condemned the arrest of opponents of Daniel Ortega’s government in Nicaragua and called for their “immediate release.”
The decision, flatly rejected by the Managua delegate, was adopted by 26 of the 34 active members of the regional bloc during an extraordinary virtual session of the Permanent Council of the OAS, its executive body.
In addition to Nicaragua, Bolivia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines voted against, while Argentina, Belize, Dominica, Honduras and Mexico abstained.
“We do not agree with the countries that, far from supporting the normal development of democratic institutions, set aside the principle of non-intervention in internal affairs, so dear to our history,” the Argentine and Mexican governments said in a joint statement. issued by the Argentine Foreign Ministry.
Both countries also expressed their disagreement with the “claim” to “impose guidelines from outside or to unduly prejudge the development of electoral processes.” “In this context, it was not possible for us to accompany the draft resolution submitted for consideration today in the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS),” the ruling.
The OAS Permanent Council resolved to “unequivocally condemn the arrest, harassment, and arbitrary restrictions imposed on presidential candidates, political parties, and independent media, and request the immediate release of presidential candidates and all political prisoners.” in Nicaragua, the text indicated.
In addition, it expressed its “grave concern” over the fact that the Nicaraguan government had not implemented the electoral reforms as of May of this year to guarantee the transparency of the elections scheduled for November 7, a deadline that had been set by the Assembly. General of the OAS last October.
And he “strongly” urged the Ortega government to apply “without delay” all measures in accordance with international standards “in order to promote transparent, free and fair elections in November, including the good reception of electoral observers from the OAS and from other countries”.
On Wednesday, the Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, expressed his “strong support” for the approved resolution.
The head of US diplomacy said in a statement that “there are no conditions” for “free and fair elections” in Nicaragua and called for the “immediate release” of the four presidential candidates recently detained by the Ortega regime.
Blinken highlighted the “clear message” sent by the OAS “in support of the Nicaraguan people and their struggle for free and fair elections and respect for human rights.”
Given the recent repression of the regime and its lack of a profound electoral reform, the conditions for free and fair elections this November do not exist, “said the head of US diplomacy.
Ortega, one of the leaders of the Sandinista revolution that in 1979 deposed the then dictator Anastasio Somoza, ruled the country until 1990 after the victory of the popular insurrection. In 2007 he returned to power and, now, the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN, left) does not rule out running him for a fourth successive term.
José Miguel Vivanco, director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch, said that the countries of the region, especially the United States, should “increase the pressure.”
“To stop this new wave of madness, you cannot count on your neighbors —except for Costa Rica—. Hence the importance of the concerted role of the United States and the European Union. Without that international pressure, the despots will continue to repress,” said the Chilean lawyer.
Last year, the United States disbursed $ 32 million in aid to Nicaragua and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved $ 185 million to help the largest country in Central America deal with the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, Nicaragua received support from the EU and the World Bank.
“Their game is to stay in power for the rest of their lives, at practically any cost. That is why it is necessary to increase the cost,” concluded Vivanco.
With information from AFP, EFE and Reuters
