A week before his death, the office of the mayor of Diriamba, Fernando Baltodano, was intervened by the Nicaraguan Institute for Municipal Development (Inifom) for an alleged “problem with some checks” for which they announced he would be removed from office and they would fire three of his close workers, reveal sources close to the case. The intervention of this municipality, after the one in Rivas that occurred last June, “are linked” and the person designated to coordinate “the acts of corruption in both mayors’ offices” is Osman Alexander Cardoza Bello, former political secretary of the FSLN in Rivas and Carazo.
Cardoza Bello, who served as political secretary of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in the departments of Rivas, Carazo, Granada and Masaya, is being investigated for crimes against property, the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) reported in a circular issued the 18 of August.
FSLN sources in Carazo confirm that he was detained for several days and was recently released. “Until a while ago, he was considered the strong man of the Sandinista party in these departments and he was in charge of measuring the ribs of all the mayors,” indicates a party source in Rivas.
In the circular issued by the National Council of Administration and Judicial Career of the CSJ indicate that after receiving information from the Directorate of Judicial Assistance they were notified that the former political secretary, “has a criminal record, and is currently being investigated for crimes against property.” For this reason, they proceeded to cancel the law degree of the former political secretary.
“They purged him”
Cardoza took over in 2013 the position of political secretary of Rivas and in 2019 he was incorporated as a lawyer and notary public. The new resolution of the CSJ concludes that “Osman Alexander Cardoza Bello, does not meet the requirements established by the regulations already listed to exercise the profession of Lawyer and Notary Public.”
In addition, they forced him to present to the Secretary of the CSJ the protocols that he carried during the five-year periods that he was authorized to certify, his seal and attorney and notary public card.
The document signed by Rubén Montenegro, secretary of the CSJ, sends an official letter to the General Directorate of Registration and Control of Lawyers and Notaries, so that they cancel the registration number 32565, which corresponds to Cardoza Bello. In addition, he requests that any pending procedure be disabled and his name be removed from the database.
“It is known that he was imprisoned for several days in Carazo, although they do not want to report that he is linked to acts of corruption with Fernando Baltodano, in Diriamba, and the former Sandinista mayor of Rivas, Wilfredo López Hernández,” party sources in both departments indicated.
One of the party’s sources in Diriamba indicates that due to his close contact with both mayors “he earned their trust and loyalty to concoct some corrupt acts about which they do not give us more information.”
“They only tell us that he fell into disgrace and that he is a persona non grata for the party and that his criminal network is still being investigated in several municipalities,” the source mentions.
The fall of the mayor of Rivas
On July 11, the mayor of Rivas, Wilfredo López Hernández, “I quit” cornered by the leadership of his party during an extraordinary session, convened that same day and lasting only 30 minutes.
In that session, the Municipal Council also accepted the resignation of Deputy Mayor Esperanza Núñez. According to sources from the commune, López’s resignation was dated from June 27 and Núñez’s on July 8. The session was held at 4:00 pm in the municipal auditorium, where both letters were read.
According to municipal sources, the councilors did not name a successor, but they did appoint Ana Birmania Rueda as the new deputy mayor, and Councilor Mario Rodríguez as the new secretary, whom they point to as the official who will be “the real power behind the throne.”
The removal of López Hernández put an end to 14 years of municipal mandate and a trajectory of alignment with Ortega. The dismissed official is remembered for his support in 2014 for the works of the interoceanic canal, the failed project of the Ortega-Murillo Administration, which at the time the presidential couple sold as the initiative that would change the history of Nicaragua and would remove thousands from the poverty.
On Sunday, July 3, the former mayor had been transferred to his house in the Los Robles neighborhood, after they had him in the Rivense police headquarters. Although the investigation was carried out by the Police, political operators such as the Minister of Agriculture, Isidro Rivera, the political secretary of the FSLN in Managua, Fidel Moreno Briones, and his counterpart in Rivas, Reymundo Membreño, participated.
Baltodano, organizer of “Operation Cleaning”
Fernando Antonio Baltodano Velásquez, Sandinista mayor of Diriamba, in Carazo “was under a similar investigation,” party sources indicate. But it was found dead the afternoon of Monday, August 22, with a bullet wound to the head and inside his truck, parked in a vacant lot on the road between Diriamba and the La Boquita resort.
A photograph of the mayor’s body circulated on social networks and on the WhatsApp messaging application, in which he appears sitting in front of the wheel of his vehicle and holding a pistol with both hands. The image has unleashed a wave of speculation among the residents of Diriamba, who believe that Baltodano was murdered.
Baltodano was buried last Wednesday, August 24, and the National Police did not issue any report on the event. However, one day after his death, the vice president and first lady, Rosario Murillo hinted that the Sandinista mayor committed suicide, since he allegedly suffered from “depression,” which led him to make “a tragic and painful decision.”
According to Murillo, Baltodano, 54, “had been suffering from ailments. We all know how difficult it is to deal with low spirits, with depression. That depression (led him) to make that fatal decision.”
Baltodano ruled for 13 non-consecutive years in Diriamba. He first governed between 2005 and 2008 and ran again in the 2012 elections, later he was re-elected in the disputed 2017 elections. He was also a departmental deputy.
On July 8, 2018, Baltodano was pointed out by residents of Diriamba to be one of the organizers—along with Mayor Mariano Madrigal, from Jinotepe—of the “Cleaning Operation” in Carazo, where more than 20 citizens were killed at the hands of police officers. and paramilitaries, in the context of the popular civic demonstrations that demanded the removal of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo from power.
He was also accused of coordinating, on July 9, 2018, the attack by Ortega and paramilitary mobs against Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes; the auxiliary bishop of Managua, Monsignor Silvio Báez; and the apostolic nuncio in Nicaragua, Monsignor Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, when they arrived at the Minor Basilica of San Sebastián, in Diriamba, to free a group of young people who were taking refuge in the temple and surrounded by paramilitaries.
