Nicaragua: Medardo Mairena, presidential candidate, arrested | They also arrested three other leaders of the Campesino Movement and two of the Nicaraguan University Alliance.

Nicaraguan police arrest peasant leader and presidential candidate Medardo Maiena, the sixth presidential candidate captured by Daniel Ortega’s government as the country prepares for the November elections. Along with Mairena, three other leaders of the Campesino Movement and two of the Nicaraguan University Alliance (AUN) were arrested.

Farmer leaders

The Peasant Movement denounced the arrest of presidential candidate Medardo Mairena and three other peasant leaders: Pedro Mena, Freddy Navas and Pablo Morales. The leaders were transferred to Evaristo Vásquez prison, known as Nuevo Chipote. “If you’re watching this video, it’s because they already took me away, I’m already in jail, and believe it, we’re already prepared somehow. They even say the Nuevo Chipote is better than the other, ”joked Navas – in a message he recorded before his capture – of the detention center where he spent two months in 2018.

The organization also reported that police failed to provide information on Morales, a leader and deputy of the opposition Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC), detained with Mairena. This is the second time that the Ortega government has held Mairena. In 2018 the candidate was sentenced to 216 years in prison, but after 11 months of detention, he was released thanks to an amnesty decreed by Ortega. In 2019, the Amnesty Law benefited more than 600 opponents, although it also sparked controversy as the defendants did not admit to committing crimes and also considered the charges to be forms of retaliation for Ortega against anti-government protests.

Student leaders

The Nicaraguan University Alliance (AUN) reported the arrest of two student leaders: German Lesther Yes Max Jerez. Alemán was one of the university leaders who publicly challenged the current president.

AUN vice president Dolly Mora said that Alemán was abducted from his home, where he was with his mother, and Jerez was captured in a house where he took refuge in the south of Managua, the capital, because he believed he was going to be arrested early. According to Mora, the two arrested student leaders were taken to the Evaristo Vásquez police complex, known as the “new Chipote,” but neither security forces nor political authorities confirmed the arrests today nor explained the reasons.

AUN also released a video in which Jerez leaves a message in case he is arrested: “If you are watching this video, it is because I am in dictatorship custody, or am in solitary confinement, thus adding to the list of political prisoners of the Ortega regime. Now is the time to continue, the dictatorship wants to put an end to hope, we must continue together this fight for the freedom of the Nicaraguan people. “

Expenses

According to Nicaraguan police, detained opponents are under investigation for allegedly violating the “Law for the Defense of the Rights of the People to Independence, Sovereignty and Self-Determination for Peace”, including crimes are considered treason.

In the press release issued by the Police, they designate the peasant leaders as responsible for the murder of four police officers in 2018, while the students are singled out as the perpetrators of “theft with intimidation (assaults), kidnappings, serious injuries, rape. , extortion, destruction and multiple damage, during the failed coup attempt ”, the same year.

Towards the elections

The arrests of opposition leaders come just months before the general election in which Ortega is considering a third consecutive re-election for a new five-year term, the second term he is leading with his wife, Rosario Murillo, at the vice-presidency. In this context, the government also established laws to restrict candidatures for political office and external funding, as well as the annulment of the legal personality of two opposition parties.

Since May 28, Nicaraguan authorities have arrested opposition presidential candidates Cristiana Chamorro, Arturo Cruz, Félix Maradiaga, Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Miguel Mora and Medardo Mairena, on charges of alleged treason. All, with the exception of Cristiana Chamorro, are accused of having violated the law of defense of the rights of the people to independence, sovereignty and self-determination for peace. Political arrests in Nicaragua are the target of international organizations such as Human Rights Watch, which presented a harsh report at the end of June detailing the “harassment”, “arrests” and “arbitrary criminal proceedings” against leaders critical of President Daniel Ortega.