“If you watch this video, it’s because I’m detained”: dramatic recordings of opposition candidates before the rage of Daniel Ortega’s regime

Nicaragua is living a week of long knives. Daniel Ortega’s regime triggered a A wave of repression that opened the process and keeps four of the main opposition candidates and at least two political and economic leaders in detention on charges ranging from “money laundering” to “treason”.

The judicial offensive leaves the Nicaraguan opposition on the brink of electoral expulsion. “I would believe that the electoral door is closed”says Nicaraguan political scientist Eliseo Núñez. “If all the candidates most likely to be in prison», He ends pessimistically.

Nicaragua is five months away from the elections where it is expected to elect the president, vice-president and members of the National Assembly. This, however, would be “The worst possible choice”, in the words of the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, in reference to the absolute control that the regime of Daniel Ortega exercises over the entire electoral and judicial apparatus.

Nicaraguans will vote on November 7 without election observation, in a process run by a court wholly loyal to Ortega, and, as recent events indicate, without real opposition to him and with journalism independent of the regime, besieged and threatened.

Nicaraguan police raided Tuesday evening in which they arrested the opposition candidate Juan Sebastian Chamorro and the leader of the National Opposition Coalition, Violeta Granera, and José Adán Aguerri, member of the Civic Opposition Alliance and former president of the Nicaraguan Business Chamber (Cosep).

Last Wednesday, June 2, a judge ordered the capture of Christian Chamorro, the possible opposition candidate with the greatest sympathy, to whom the prosecution has opened a process for “money laundering“Supposedly engaged since the foundation he led until last January. Chamorro was under house arrest.

Three days later, the candidate Arturo cruz He was arrested at Managua airport on his way back from the United States, on charges of “”treason”, And Tuesday morning, the Nicaraguan police arrested the candidate on the same charges. Felix Maradiaga, a few minutes after leaving an interview to which he was summoned by the prosecution.

Before his imminent arrest, the candidates Juan Sebastián Chamorro and Félix Maradiaga recorded videos to be published after their arrest, as the Ortega regime, so far, completely isolates political detainees, who are not allowed to receive visits from relatives or contact with them. their lawyers.

Nicaraguan police reported in separate press releases that Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Violeta Granera and José Adán Aguerri are under investigation “for perform acts that undermine 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, propose and manage economic, commercial and operational blockades against the country and its institutions, demand, exalt and applaud the imposition of sanctions against the State of Nicaragua and its citizens, and undermine the supreme interests of the nation ”.

The arrests, according to the opposition, are illegal and its exclusive aim is to inhibit the participation of the candidates and to remove the opposition which could defeat Daniel Ortega.

At the same time, the Office of the Prosecutor has summoned some twenty journalists from different Nicaraguan media to inquire about the financial relations they had with the Violeta Barrios Foundation, of which Cristiana Chamorro was director.

The Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation officially closed since last January, it operated for 23 years “For the defense and consolidation of freedom of expression and information in Nicaragua” and it has supported “citizen programs and initiatives in favor of social development, the exercise of democratic values, education for change and the promotion of excellence in national journalism”, according to its principles.

The repressive wave seems to have a first and a last name, according to journalist linked to the Ortega regime, William Grigsby, director of radio La Primerísima, who does not hesitate to recognize the electoral political intentions behind the apparent lawsuits. Would be called “Operation DantoAn old name used by the Sandinista army in the 1980s war.

“It is this whole operation which is carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office as a spearhead. Break the propaganda apparatus of US imperialism. Let’s see what they are doing now. Let’s see how good they are journalists now that they are going to run out of real (money), ”he says then proclaims with joy: “We’re breaking their ass!”

“With Operation Danto the Yankee propaganda apparatus was beheaded and now the table is clean. Let’s go to the elections!“, He says, then specifies:” (With) candidates able to compete. “

Analyst Eliseo Núñez believes that Nicaragua is heading for an election like the one recently organized by Syria, where Bashar al-Ásad won 95% of the vote. “Bashar al-Ásad prevented the opposition from participating and only the regions he controlled militarily voted,” he said.

“Daniel Ortega thinks that in 2018 he won a war,” adds Núñez, alluding to the violent police and paramilitary repression of popular protests that have left more than 300 dead, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH ). “You feel like you’ve won a war and you have the right to impose your laws.”

“We knew it was a very difficult situation, but we were determined to force the conditions to change,” said Violeta Granera. Infobae shortly before the police raided her home and left her under house arrest and incommunicado. “The signs are very negative“, a point.

“Ortega acts under two premises: one, the obvious terror he has of submitting to free competition because he knows he would lose and he does not want to leave power; and secondly, it takes time, hoping that the international panorama will one day succeed in favoring it.», Explained Granera. “It seems like a pretty silly strategy to me, because there is no way to keep an entire country under siege. It may not allow free elections, but the results of electoral fraud in 2021 will not be accepted by Nicaraguans or the international community ”.

However, Granera considers that the elections are not yet “a losing battle” and that the Nicaraguan opposition must “push this possibility to the end”.

“If (Ortega) manages to mount this electoral farce and there is no way to reverse it, that does not mean the end of the fight. On the contrary, the fight will strengthen in the face of the rapes and abuses he commits, ”he said.

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