Daniel Ortega is listed in the survey promoted by the British NGO Index on Censorship, with which he intends to find out who is the worst tyrant of this 2022. Without knowing the final result, which will be available until January 9, 2023, the dictator of Nicaragua is among the 12 most brutal tyrants this year.
Until this Tuesday, Ortega got fifth place. The organization, which also publishes a quarterly magazine, highlights that the president of the Central American country became “a disappointing image. A revolutionary hero turned tyrant.”
Related news: Ortega has built an image of a “total” tyrant, say defenders
The general editor, Martin Bright, revealed that among the points they took into account to position Ortega among the worst tyrants is the imposition of a “family dictatorship in Nicaragua, which is in the same vein as the hated Somozas.”
The dismantling of State institutions, the electoral farces, both the 2021 presidential ones and the municipal ones this year, his combo of repressive laws, the imprisonment of dozens of opponents and the exile of more than 200,000 citizens contributed to Ortega forming that blacklist.
Among the postulates is a bunch of Ortega’s friends, whom he and Rosario Murillo call brothers. On the list are Vladimir Putin of Russia; Kim Jong-un, from North Korea; Xi Jinping from China; Andrés Manuel López Obrador, from Mexico; as well as the leaders of Iran, Belarus and the emir of Qatar.
The political prisoners who are in the cells of the Directorate of Judicial Assistance in Managua will have their 13th visit in more than 17 months in prison. According to a press release released by the Ortega Police on December 7, the prisoners of conscience, the majority detained in the context of the 2021 presidential vote, could be reunited with their families on Christmas and New Year’s occasions.
This notice has been taken up by the relatives of prisoners of conscience with minor daughters or sons who are in exile for security reasons to demand that minors be granted a call or video call with their fathers or mothers in captivity.
The SOS is headed by the persecuted politician Berta Valle, wife of Félix Maradiaga; and César Dubois, husband of the president of the Renewing Democratic Union (Unamos); Suyen Barahona. The nine-year-old daughter of the presidential candidate and the five-year-old son of the human rights defender have gone more than 550 days without at least listening to their father and mother, respectively, on a call.
Related news: Ortega attacks the Church: “The cassock does not make anyone a saint, they are whitewashed tombs”
Daniel Ortega took advantage of a police graduation to once again attack religious leaders and the Catholic Church, in a context where he has increased the imprisonment of priests and has imposed surveillance on temples while other priests have been prescribed exile and persecution.
The dictator continued with his hackneyed speech disseminated by the ruling party in which he says that “the cassock does not make anyone a saint.” In addition, he accused the parish priests and bishops of inciting the protesters who took to the streets in 2018 in protest against the regime in power.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who at the beginning of his term acknowledged that his administration tried unsuccessful rapprochements with the Ortega regime in search of interceding for political prisoners, stressed in an interview with Semana Magazine that they have a “lawsuit” with Nicaragua and He stressed that he does not agree with the repressive actions of the administration in power.
The leftist assumed that in front of the Ortega-Murillo structures he advocated for the release of Dora María Téllez, since he does not conceive that the figure of the Sandinista revolution is imprisoned for denouncing human rights violations.
“The request I made was not met,” said Petro, exalting that the problem with Ortega is that he has transformed and that for the Nicaraguan president “power is a drug.”
Nicaragua accumulates 20,041 confirmed cases of COVID-19. This Tuesday, the Ministry of Health acknowledged that in the last week they detected 77 new patients with the coronavirus, thus exceeding the barrier of 20,000. The number of deaths has been stagnant since July at 245.
The official numbers contrast with those presented until last July by the Covid-19 Citizen Observatory, a network of independent doctors that monitors the pandemic, which reported 6,066 deaths from pneumonia and other coronavirus symptoms, in addition to 32,650 suspected cases, data that the government rejects.
