Nicaraguan sports writer Miguel Mendoza began a hunger strike this week in order to pressure judicial authorities to allow him to see his eight-year-old daughter, his family reported at a press conference on Wednesday.
According to relatives, the strike would have started on Monday of this week.
The chronicler has been detained in the maximum security prison in Managua, known as El Chipote, since June 21 last yearafter an investigation against him for the alleged crime of “carrying out acts that undermine the independence, sovereignty and self-determination” of Nicaragua.
Since then, Mendoza, who has been in prison for more than 15 months and was found guilty of the crime he was accused of, has not been allowed to see his daughter, despite the fact that he has filed at least eleven requests without success.
Carla Mendoza, sister of the sports writer, pointed out that Mendoza is a chronic patient who has lost more than 30 pounds since his arrest in 2021, for which he expressed concern about the decision he made.
“Miguel is aware of the risks, but he considers that it is the only way out that they have left him in his attempts to hug his daughter again, after these 457 days of detention,” said the chronicler’s sister.
He also reiterated that “it has not been possible to prove a single crime” and added that he is imprisoned as a result of “an action inconsistent with the principles and articles set forth in the Nicaraguan Constitution.”
Mendoza is part of 200 political prisoners in Nicaragua
Mendoza is part of the more than 200 political prisoners in Nicaragua as a result of the crisis that emerged in 2018, after the protests against President Daniel Ortega, who has classified the detainees as “terrorists and coup plotters.”
However, human rights organizations and others that watch over press freedom have demanded Mendoza’s freedom, such as the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
“The entire criminal process against the Nicaraguan journalist Miguel Mendoza has been nothing more than a clear attempt by the authorities to silence anyone who dares to question them,” Natalie Southwick, coordinator of the Latin America Program and the CPJ’s Caribbean.
The chronicler sentenced to nine years in prison by the Nicaraguan justice joins this measure that other political prisoners had also adopted, such as Miguel Mora, founder of the 100% News Channeland the opposition Tamara Dávila, who after this hunger strike allowed her to see her children.
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