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On a three-meter pedestal, a stone Pedro Joaquín Chamorro looks at Managua through his glasses, with his forehead held high. Today, three of the children of the journalist martyr of the Somoza dictatorship are imprisoned or exiled, like hundreds of Nicaraguan opponents.
Most fled amid an offensive that has imprisoned 39 opponents since June, including seven presidential hopefuls who sought to unite to confront the regime. Daniel Ortega, who, after 14 years in power, is seeking his fourth consecutive term in the elections tomorrow Sunday, without counterweights.
Of those aspirants the favorite was the journalist Christian Chamorro, daughter of former President Violeta Barrios (1990-1997) and Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, assassinated in 1978 by the dictator Anastasio Somoza and whose statue was inaugurated in 2013 by the Ortega government.
Cristiana is under house arrest and her brothers Pedro Joaquín is in prison and Carlos Fernando is in exile in Costa Rica. They, like other opponents, are accused of “money laundering”, of damaging the sovereignty of the country or of “treason against the fatherland”, under laws adopted a few months ago by the regime.
“With politicians, business leaders, dissident Sandinistas and journalists among those detained, opposition groups are in complete chaos,” said an analysis by the NGO Crisis Group.
The attack included the search of houses, the cancellation of three political parties (Alianza Ciudadanos por la Libertad, CxL), the Democratic Restoration Party (PRD) and the Conservative Party (PC) as well as civil organizations, excluding the opposition of The elections.
“It was deadly. He beheaded the leadership and anyone who raised their heads. Everyone is outside, those of us who have stayed have a feeling of loneliness, ”Vilma Núñez, president of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh), told AFP.
For Ortega, who has governed since 2007, the imprisoned opponents “are not politicians,” but “criminals.”
According to a Cid-Gallup poll – criticized by the regime – 65% of the population would have voted for an opposition candidate and 19% for Ortega.
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The opposition group includes right-wing politicians, dissidents from the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN, left), students who led the protests against in 2018, relatives of more than 300 Nicaraguans who died during the repression that year, and prisoners, groups feminists and part of the peasant movement.
They were organized in the movements of the Blue and White National Unity (UNAB), the bloc of the National Coalition and the Alliance for Justice and Democracy that was even formed with businessmen to dialogue with the government in 2018.
But the formation of a common bloc failed due to internal intrigues and different interests, leaving the opposition as an option to participate in the elections under the banners of the CxL, the PRD and the PC that offered to represent them.
After those three groups were outlawed, only five presidential candidates from right-wing parties were authorized, which are unknown by the population and branded as collaborators with the ruling party, since they have voted as allies in parliament.
According to the Human Rights Commission (IACHR), more than 100,000 Nicaraguans emigrated since the 2018 protests. (With information from AFP)
IAPA demands guarantees for journalists
The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) called on the Daniel Ortega regime to stop evading the scrutiny of the press before the presidential elections on Sunday and demanded guarantees so that the media and journalists can carry out their work of electoral coverage. the IAPA warned that the repression in Nicaragua represents a threat to journalistic activity. “The main international organizations have declared these elections as very few credible and the most recent actions of the Ortega government not only confirm this, but also indicate a serious setback in terms of freedom of expression,” said IAPA President Jorge Canahuati, president of the multimedia group Opsa, from Honduras.
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Biden plans strong sanctions package
The American President, Joe Biden, will sign the so-called Renacer law, by which his Government commits to extend sanctions to Nicaragua, after the elections this Sunday.
This was confirmed yesterday by a senior US official, who requested anonymity and stressed that there will be a “broad international rejection of the fraudulent elections” in Nicaragua, with coordinated sanctions between the United States, Canada and the European Union (EU).
“The president (Biden) will probably issue a statement on Sunday, and then he will sign the Renacer law that Congress has approved,” the official said in a telephone press conference with a small group of media.
Asked why Biden does not sign the legislation before the election rather than after, the official responded that it is “important that (the White House) not do anything that distracts from what is going to be a clear abuse of power” in Nicaragua.
“The signing of a law is not going to change what (President Daniel Ortega and his regime) have already done, which is to steal the elections,” said the source.
The Renacer legislation (Enforcing Compliance with Conditions for Electoral Reform in Nicaragua) expands the supervision of loans from international financial institutions to Nicaragua. Likewise, it advocates the imposition of selective sanctions on Nicaraguan officials and that these be coordinated with the Government of Canada and the EU, in addition to requesting that Nicaragua’s continued participation in the Free Trade Agreement with Central America (CAFTA) be reviewed. Asked about that last point, the official did not want to enter into “the legal criteria on whether a country can be expelled” from CAFTA, and stressed that the Biden government wants to ensure that its sanctions “do not punish the Nicaraguan people”, but rather to Ortega.
The Renacer law also serves to add Nicaragua to the list of Central American countries subject to US visa restrictions related to corruption. Other points of the measure are focused on the ties between Russia and Nicaragua.
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