Daniel Ortega’s regime violence and repression escalate ahead of November elections in Nicaragua

Cases of violence in the context of the general elections next November in Nicaragua totaled 279 in the space of a month and a half.Between April 1 and May 15, the independent group Urnas Abiertas denounced this Monday.

Among the main acts of violence linked to the electoral process, the citizen observatory recorded 178 cases of harassment, 36 assaults, 27 arrests, 15 threats, 14 arrests, six injuries and three legal proceedings.

At least 267 people were “identified victims” of violence led mainly by the national police (85.51% of cases) or Sandinista groups “against organizations, media or political parties”, depending on the grouping.

The cases of violence reported in the Open Urns report are added to 323 others recorded between October and March, for a total 602 violent events in the context of the elections scheduled for November 7, in which President Daniel Ortega seeks to remain in power for another five years.

According to the observer group, in the past two months Nicaragua’s electoral environment was characterized by “harassment of leaders of political organizations”, “partial access to the right of assembly” and by “the use of public resources in the pre-electoral campaign by the governing party. “.

The report highlighted the cancellation of the legal personality of the Democratic Restoration Party (PRD) and the Conservative Party (PC), the first with the support of one of the main opposition blocs known as the National Coalition.

He also pointed out the prosecution for alleged laundering of money, property and assets against the director of the late Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, Cristiana Chamorro Barrios, who according to pollster Cid Gallup is the opposition presidential candidate with the highest probability of defeating Ortega in the election.

Also actions of the Sandinista regime against the local press, in which it highlighted the second raid against a media group led by journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, winner of the 2021 Ortega y Gasset prize, and Cristiana’s brother.

The atmosphere in Nicaragua had already been tense since April 2018, when a popular revolt erupted over controversial social security reforms and then turned into a demand for the resignation of President Ortega, who responded with a brutal crackdown. by security forces and Sandinista paramilitary groups. against civil society.

The demonstrations, described by the executive as an “attempted coup”, left at least 328 dead, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), although Local agencies bring this figure to 684. The regime only recognizes 200.

In the November elections, Ortega, who reigned between 1979 and 1990, sought to extend for five years the power he regained in 2007.

However, both the opposition and much of the international community are already warning that the electoral process will not guarantee any kind of transparency. The United Nations Human Rights Office, headed by the High Commissioner Michelle bachelet, alerted last Friday that is worried that the chances of a free and genuine presidential election are diminishing the measures taken by the authorities against candidates and independent journalists.

This body, based in Geneva, received last February from the UN Human Rights Council (intergovernmental body) the mission of making a Close monitoring all aspects of human rights within the framework of the Nicaraguan electoral campaign.

“We have observed a worrying situation in recent weeksThe spokesperson for the Human Rights Office said in a press appearance, Marta Hurtado, who has already signed a statement on this.

He referred, for example, to the approval by the National Assembly – controlled by the ruling party – of electoral reform this sets aside the demands of the opposition, civil society and the international community, because it refuses to incorporate guarantees of impartiality on the part of electoral entities.

He mentioned that this reform also contains restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly and political participation, Y allowed the dissolution of two political parties on the pretext that they act against international standards.

When revising the law, UN experts found that the way electoral reform was drafted allows its use “to silence dissent”.

Among the facts that most concern the Bachelet Office, there are opening of a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Cristina Chamorro Barrios, accused of money laundering.

The 67-year-old journalist considered the case against her “a gross sham” and denounced that her bank accounts had been frozen and that her bank secrecy had been lifted. “I also see it as a revenge against the legacy of my mother, Violeta Chamorro, which we have collected at the Foundation that bears her name. In this atrocious way, he takes revenge for this defeat (of 1990) which he seems not to overcome. Ortega is a dictator who knows he has the majority rejection of the people, but does not accept it because his plan is to continue to govern the country badly until his forces allow it. “, he commented in an interview with the agency AFP.

The presidential candidate enjoys 13.3% of citizen support, according to a poll conducted in January by the Cid Gallup cabinet, and is emerging as an opponent of Ortega, in power since 2007 and who, according to his opponents, will attempt a fourth consecutive term. “The people put me in the first place of electoral preferences. This is why the dictator ordered that they accuse me, it is revenge against the people “said the Nicaraguan journalist.

With information from EFE and AFP

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