Nicaragua: Writer Sergio Ramírez arrested for “conspiracy” and “incitement to hatred” | “They will never silence me,” said the Cervantes Prize winner.

Prosecutor’s office accused and demanded to arrest famous Nicaraguan writer Sergio Ramírez for acts of “incitement to hatred” and for “conspiracy” against sovereignty, in a context of apprehensions and open trials to opponents two months before the legislative elections. The indictment, arrest warrant and home invasion were filed on Wednesday against Ramírez, who According to the prosecutor’s office, he received money through the Luisa Mercado Foundation, an entity that promotes culture, in order to “destabilize” the country.

Ramírez, former vice-president of President Daniel Ortega who in recent years has become one of its great detractors, has rejected each of the accusations. The novelist assured that the crimes that “many worthy and courageous Nicaraguans are imprisoned”. If they search for his address, he added, they will only find “a house full of books.”

Incitement to hatred and violence

“A charge has been filed against Sergio Ramírez Mercado for committing acts that promote and incite hatred and violence”The Nicaraguan prosecutor’s office revealed this Thursday in a statement. The prosecution specified that the acts attributed to the writer “fall into the criminal category of the agreement aimed at undermining national integrity, in competition with the money, property and asset laundering offense“written into the penal code.

According to the prosecution, most of these funds “were intended to finance one of the main programs of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, the” Programa Medios para Nicaragua “, but in practice they were intended for purposes other than their own. . the Foundation. ”The prosecutor’s office considered that these funds were embezzled to finance “people and organizations that sought to destabilize the smooth running of the country’s economic and social development”..

Ramírez, 78 years old, He was a member of the National Reconstruction Council which took over the country after the triumph of the 1979 revolution, and was vice-president of Ortega during his first term (1985-1990). In 1995, he resigned from the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) due to disagreements with the party.

Winner in 2017 of the Cervantes Prize, the most important in Spanish literatureRamírez remains outside Nicaragua after being questioned by the prosecutor’s office as a witness in early June about his links to the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, which led opposition presidential candidate Cristiana Chamorro.

At that time, the 1998 Alfaguara Prize for Marguerite, the sea is beautifulHe explained that the financial support to the Luisa Mercado Foundation, named after his mother, was intended for the activities of the Centroamerica Cuenta cultural platform, which annually brings together writers, storytellers and poets from all over the world.

Ramírez: “They will never impose silence on me”

Ramírez reacted on his social networks to the unfounded accusation that, he said, the Ortega government is bringing against him through the prosecution. “Dictatorships lack imagination and repeat their lies, fury, hatred and whims. These are the same delusions, the same blind stubbornness for power, ”said the writer through a video posted on his social networks.

“Daniel Ortega accused me through his own prosecution and before his own judges of the same crimes of incitement to hatred and violence, attack on national integrity and others that I did not have time to read, charges for which many worthy and courageous Nicaraguans are imprisoned in the dungeons of the same family“Ramirez doomed.

The award-winning writer compared the current situation to what happened in 1977. At that time, dictator Anastasio Somoza accused him of similar crimes “when I was fighting against this dictatorship as I now fight against this other” . “I am a writer committed to democracy and freedom, and I will not abandon this endeavor from where I am. My literary work for years has been the work of a free man. The only weapons I have are words, and silence is never imposed on me“he added.

Almost two months after the elections, Justice has returned more than 30 detainees on trial, including five of the seven presidential candidates, under laws passed by the government last December. Cristiana Chamorro, who became an important rival to Ortega in the election, is one of them.

Ortega: “Terrorists are on trial”

Daniel ortegaThe 75-year-old was in government between 1979 and 1990, first as the head of a board of directors, then as president. In 1990 he was defeated by former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, but he returned to power in 2007 and remains to this day.

Although Ortega still did not discuss the situation of his former running mate, Tuesday qualified opponents as “terrorists” who are being held for suspected treason, and “demons in cassock “and” satanic “to Nicaraguan bishops and priests critical of their government. According to the president, their opponents “were about to repeat the story of 2018 and justice is done, that’s all, justice is done against the terrorists. “

Ortega thus referred to the massive demonstrations of April 2018 against a reform of the pension system which was finally suspended, but before that plunged the country into chaos with violent demonstrations, looting and clashes with the police which left a balance of more than 300 dead. The president has always assured that his government is not repressing civilians but is facing, as it continues to do today, a “wave of terrorism” promoted by the United States.

In the November 7 elections, Ortega will seek his fifth term, the fourth in a row and the second accompanied by his wife, Vice-President Rosario Murillo.