Nicaragua: Daniel Ortega’s regime arrests opposition leader and presidential candidate Félix Maradiaga Blandon

In a new attack on the opposition in Nicaragua, the system of government Daniel ortega on Tuesday arrested the opposition leader and presidential candidate Félix Maradiaga Blandon.

In a statement, the national police said that Maradiaga Blandon was charged with a series of crimes such as “destabilization”, “proposed economic blockade”, “Applaud the imposition of sanctions against Nicaragua” and “harm the supreme interests of the nation”.

Maradiaga, academic and activist, was arrested after appearing before the prosecution, where they confirmed that they had opened an investigation for “inciting foreign interference in internal affairs”, so, according to he told reporters, he was ready for whatever happens.

In this way, Maradiaga becomes third opposition presidential candidate investigated and detained in absence of five months before parliamentary elections, in which the country’s dictator, the Sandinista Daniel Ortega, is seeking another re-election.

The first inmate was Christian Chamorro, daughter of the former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997) and the opposition figure most likely to win presidential elections next November, and the second was Arturo Cruz, who served as the Ortega government’s ambassador to the United States between 2007 and 2009.

They accuse him of managing the sanctions

In a statement, police said Maradiaga “is under investigation for committing acts undermining independence, sovereignty and self-determination, incite foreign interference in internal affairs, demand military interventions, organize with funding from foreign powers to commit acts of terrorism and destabilization ”.

Also for “Propose and manage blockades of economic, commercial and financial operations against the country and its institutions, demand, exalt and applaud the imposition of sanctions against the State of Nicaragua and its citizens, and injure the supreme interests of the nation ”.

These crimes are contemplated in the Ley of Defense of the Rights of the People to Independence, Sovereignty and self-determination for peace, approved by the National Assembly, with a Sandinista majority, last December.

“The national police carry out all relevant investigative procedures and refer the person under investigation to the competent authorities for prosecution and determination of criminal liability,” he added.

“Indices of illegal activities”

For its part, the prosecution said it had summoned Maradiaga on Tuesday. “For having received a complaint from the Ministry of the Interior“Since last Friday June 4 against the “Fundación Libertad or Fundación para la Libertad” Registered on February 26, 2013, represented by the candidate for the Presidency.

The Interior Ministry’s complaint against Maradiaga and this NGO It is “for having seriously failed in its obligations before the control body”, said the prosecution in a statement.

“Also to know their mode of operation by having distorted the goals and objectives for which the Institute for Strategic Studies and Public Policy (Ieepp) had been created ”, continued.

The prosecutor’s office said Maradiaga is also under investigation by the national police. “To have strong indications that he attacked Nicaraguan society and the rights of the people.”

Maradiaga was director of Ieepp, an organization raided in September 2019 and from which the National Assembly, controlled by the ruling party, has withdrawn its legal personality.

Attack on the opposition

Last month, The Nicaraguan legislature has appointed a majority of ruling party-aligned magistrates to the electoral body that will oversee the elections.

He has since disqualified two games.

In December, the legislator has passed a law which, according to critics, has for aim to prevent opposition politicians from running for office.

Sponsored by leftist Ortega, it bans “To those who demand, celebrate and applaud the imposition of sanctions against the Nicaraguan state.

Ortega, a former guerrilla who ruled from 1979 to 1990, returned to power in 2007 and won two successive re-elections.

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