Nicaragua: Daniel Ortega’s regime arrested another presidential candidate and there are already seven opposition candidates jailed

Nicaraguan opposition presidential candidate Noel José Vidaurre Argüello, 66 years old, was taken into custody on Saturday to be investigated for alleged treason, national police reported.

Vidaurre, a seasoned conservative politician, becomes the seventh Nicaraguan opposition presidential candidate to be apprehended in Nicaragua less than four months before elections in which the country’s president, Sandinista Daniel Ortega, has come to power since 2007 , he is seeking a new re-election.

National police, led by Francisco Díaz, a brother-in-law of Ortega, said they had opened an investigation against Nicaraguan presidential candidate Vidaurre by the opposition Citizens for Freedom Alliance (CxL), and commentator politician Jaime José Arellano Arana

“Both remain at home, in custody,” he said.

Vidaurre and Arellano are both under investigation “for committing acts which undermine independence, sovereignty and self-determination, inciting foreign interference in internal affairs and requiring intervention military”.

Also for “having organized with funding from foreign powers to perpetrate acts of terrorism and destabilization, propose and manage economic, commercial and financial blockade operations against the country and its institutions”. In addition, for “having demanded, exalted and applauded the imposition of sanctions against the State of Nicaragua and its citizens, and having harmed the supreme interests of the nation”.

The police based their accusation by citing the law for the defense of the rights of the people to independence, sovereignty and self-determination for peace, urgently approved by the National Assembly, with a Sandinista majority, last December. . This controversial law, promoted by the Executive, lists “traitors to the country” and disqualifies them from running for public office.

The national police said they “carry out all relevant investigative procedures and will refer those under investigation to the competent authorities to prosecute them and determine criminal liability.”

THE WAVE OF ARREST IN NICARAGUA

As part of the electoral process, The Nicaraguan regime has arrested opposition presidential candidates Cristiana Chamorro, Arturo Cruz, Félix Maradiaga, Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Miguel Mora, Medardo Mairena and now Vidaurre, who are under investigation for alleged treason.

In addition, two former vice-chancellors, two former Sandinista dissident guerrillas, a business leader, a banker, a former first lady, five opposition leaders, two student leaders, two peasant leaders, a journalist, two former NGO workers and a driver from Cristiana Chamorro.

Meanwhile, law professor and constitutional lawyer María Asunción Moreno, whom the opposition Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy nominated as a presidential candidate, left her home two weeks ago after being summoned by the public prosecutor for an interview without specifying the cause. , felony, or injured and is reported missing.

While the former Contra leader Luis Fley, who was one of the 11 opposition presidential candidates, left Nicaragua and announced, from his exile, that for security reasons he decided to withdraw his aspirations.

The cascade of arrests against several opposition political leaders in Nicaragua has prompted hundreds of dissidents and professionals to choose to leave or stay out of the country.

The arrests and the exodus of opposition leaders take place in the face of the legislative elections of November 7 where Ortega, a former Sandinista guerrilla who returned to power in 2007 after having presided over the country between 1979 and 1990 and who since 2017 has governed alongside his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, will seek re-election for another five years.

With information from the EFE

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