The week Daniel Ortega took off his last Democratic mask in Nicaragua

There are moments of rupture in the life of countries and governments. Steps that have been taken and from which it is not possible to return. Daniel Ortega decided to break through his own Rubicon this week with an unprecedented hunt for opposition leaders, who buried all expectations of an uncompetitive presidential election on November 7 and finished consolidating his government as a dictatorship.

Barely seven days, it took the head of the Sandinista Front to crush the last vestiges of freedom that remained in the country. At the rate of one per day on average, Ortega arrested the main opposition leaders: Cristiana Chamorro, Arturo Cruz, Félix Maradiaga Blandon, Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Violeta Granera, José Adán Aguerri Chamorro and José Pallais.

In this way, paved the way for another re-election in November, the third in a row since returning to power in 2007. In 2011, he won with 62% of the vote and in 2016 – when he had already prevented the participation of several opposition figures – he won with 72%. You probably won’t settle for less than 80% this time around.

Chronology of an authoritarian unmasking

—Wednesday June 2 5:15 p.m .: Cristiana Chamorro

Police officers from Nicaragua they entered the presidential candidate’s house on Wednesday morning Christian Chamorro with a warrant of “search and arrest” issued by the judge Karen Chavarria Morales of the ninth district of Criminal Court. After five hours of search, he was under house arrest, as revealed by his brother Carlos Fernando Chamorro.

Christian Chamorro He had called a press conference at 12 noon and the entry of the police took place about 15 minutes before that time. Chamorro, 67, is under investigation for alleged money laundering by the The prosecutor’s office, that the day before he had declared her indicted and had asked the competent authorities to prevent her from standing for election.

Daughter of former President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997), who in 1990 ended Ortega’s first stage as president with an unexpected electoral victory, was the main card of democratic sectors in Nicaragua.

—Saturday June 5 9:00 am: Arturo Cruz

The second inmate was Arturo Cruz, who served as Ambassador to the United States for the Ortega Executive between 2007 and 2009. He was arrested Saturday at the Augusto C. Sandino International Airport in Managua, while returning from a tour of the United States. United, reported his press team. .

Cruz, a presidential candidate from the Citizen Alliance opposition, arrived in Managua at 9:00 a.m. local time (3:00 p.m. GMT), but three hours later he was still inside the airport and not answering calls or messages on his cell phone. While several hours passed on Saturday without knowing the whereabouts of the candidate and also a former ambassador, the Nicaraguan public prosecutor confirmed his detention: “He was detained … and is under investigation for strong indications that he attacked Nicaraguan society and the rights of the people”.

—Tuesday June 8 12:40 pm: Félix Maradiaga Blandon

The third arrested was the presidential candidate Felix Maradiaga Blandon. In a statement, the national police said that he was charged with a series of crimes such as “destabilization”, “propose economic blockades”, “applaud the imposition of sanctions against Nicaragua” and “undermine the supreme interests of the nation”.

Maradiaga, academic and activist, was arrested Tuesday at noon, after appearing before the prosecution, where they confirmed having opened an investigation for “incite foreign interference in internal affairs“So, he told reporters, he was ready for whatever was to come.

—Tuesday June 8 8:00 p.m .: Juan Sebastián Chamorro

Juan Sebastián Chamorro became the fourth inmate on Tuesday evening. The politician is a cousin of Cristiana Chamorro and a candidate of the Citizens for Freedom Alliance. His arrest took place on charges of “Incite foreign interference in internal affairs” and “organize with funding from foreign powers to commit acts of terrorism“, Among others, according to the press release of the National Police.

The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) condemned the arrest of Maradiaga and denounced that the authorities are using “a new repressive model: quote without saying why those we consider to be political enemies, interview them, let them leave the prosecution and then detain them on the way home or inside ”.

—Tuesday June 8 9:00 p.m .: Violeta Granera

Violeta Granera was placed under house arrest on Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. under the charge of “incite foreign interference in internal affairs“O”request military interventions“Against the regime led by Sandinista Daniel Ortega. Police assured that Granera, who aspired to the vice-presidency of Nicaragua in the 2016 elections and belongs to the Political Council of the opposition Blue and White National Unity, “stay at home in custody”.

—Tuesday June 8 10:00 p.m .: José Adán Aguerri Chamorro

Nicaraguan National Police announced Tuesday evening that they had detained the economist José Adán Aguerri Chamorro, former president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep), Nicaragua’s main employer. After his arrest, He was transferred to the preventive prisons of the National Directorate of Legal Aid, in Managua.

“Propose and manage blockades of economic, commercial and financial operations against the country and its institutions, to demand, extol and applaud the imposition of sanctions against the State of Nicaragua and its citizens, and to harm the supreme interests of the nation ”, are some of the charges against him.

—Wednesday June 9th 12pm: José Pallais

The regime of Daniel Ortega arrested Wednesday at noon the seventh leader of the opposition: José Pallais, political analyst and member of the National Coalition. The leader was arrested by the Sandinista police accused of having “carried out acts undermining independence, sovereignty and self-determination, inciting foreign interference in internal affairs, requesting military intervention”.

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