This is how Daniel Ortega’s police cracked down on journalists trying to cover the operation at Cristiana Chamorro’s house in Nicaragua.

Nicaraguan police raided this Wednesday the home of opposition presidential candidate Cristiana Chamorro with an arrest warrant following a charge of money laundering brought by the regime of Daniel Ortega. During the operation in Managua, security forces cracked down on journalists trying to cover the event.

“At the point of jostling and violence, the Orteguista police force expelled the independent journalists who were covering the exterior of Cristiana Chamorro’s house”, denounced the newspaper La Prensa, which shared a video of the moment.

“They are attacking journalists right now”a reporter said in the video, while demanding that one of the men in uniform “not push” his colleagues. In the pictures you can see members of the Sandinista police urging certain journalists to subsequently form a police cordon and prevent the press from entering the scene of the raid.

A Managua court said in a press release that it ordered “search and arrest of Cristiana Chamorro, accused of the offenses of abusive management, ideological lying in real competition with the offense of laundering money, property and assets, to the detriment of the State of Nicaragua and Nicaraguan society.

The agents violently entered the residence of the Nicaraguan journalist, in the south-east of Managua, where she was preparing to give a press conference after the accusation presented by the prosecution, she told the agency. AFP Arelia barba, Cristiana’s assistant.

Chamorro’s friends and family attempted to come to the residence. However, police and riot police prevented passage through the area.

The arrest warrant for Chamorro was issued by the judge Karen chavarria, from the Ninth Criminal District, where the charge was filed Tuesday evening, the statement said.

Chamorro, 67, daughter of former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, declared his intention to represent the opposition as the sole candidate in the November 7 elections.

Although Ortega has not yet confirmed his participation in these elections, his opponents believe he will run for a fourth consecutive term.

The prosecution opened an investigation against Chamorro on May 20 at the request of the Ministry of the Interior.

The government accuses him of irregularities in the management of the foundation that bears his mother’s name, dedicated to the promotion of freedom of expression. The opposition party rejected the accusations and viewed them as a “farce” to prevent him from participating in the elections.

Nicaraguan law prohibits people with disabilities from running for public office initiate criminal proceedings. “The arbitrary ban on opposition leader Cristiana Chamorro reflects Ortega’s fear of free and fair elections. Nicaraguans deserve a true democracy ”, said the chief of US diplomacy on Twitter, Antoine Blink.

The Organization of American States (OAS), for its part, on Wednesday rejected Chamorro’s “political disqualification” and called it “An attack on democracy” and he warned that Nicaragua was heading for the “worst possible election”.

“Actions like this take away all political credibility from the government and the organizers of the electoral process,” he added. The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh), He called the action against Chamorro a “human rights abuse”.

The opposition bloc, called The National Coalition (CN), in a statement, accused Ortega of “starting a hunt” against the candidates because “they fear going towards a free, transparent and observed process.

Recently, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, made up of magistrates appointed by the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), He left aside the Democratic Restoration Party (PRD-Evangelical) and the Conservative Party (PC-right), the oldest in the country.

“It is possible that after Cristiana other inhibitions to more candidates will follow, because Ortega wants to eliminate from the game the opponents who represent the greatest challenge to his plan to perpetuate himself in power,” the presidential candidate said on Tuesday. ‘opposition. Félix Maradiaga.

With information from La Prensa and AFP

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