The Nicaraguan Police announced this Saturday, January 21, a series of changes in its headquarters, amid conjecture about the alleged imprisonment of some of its high command in recent days.
In a press release, the National Police announced a “rotation of police chiefs”, in which it reported the movement of five of its leaders, including two who had been mentioned as “arrested” in non-official media, after learn unofficially that they had been removed from their posts.
The institution reported that the police chiefs Sergio Gutierrez Espinoza Y Pedro Jose Rodriguez Arguetawho were supposedly under arrest, went from directing the Matagalpa Police Delegation and that of the Mining Triangle, respectively, to managing the Economic Investigations Directorate (DIE), in the case of the former, and the National Public Security Directorate, in the latter case. second case.
gutierrez gained notoriety in 2022 for directing the capture of the bishop of the diocese of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of the diocese of Estelí, Rolando Álvarez, a critic of President Daniel Ortega.
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RodriguezFor his part, he is accused by the opposition of allegedly having directed “Operation Cleaning” in the department of Carazo, a series of attacks against anti-government protesters that in 2018, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), left at least 355 dead, of which Ortega has admitted 300.
The Police also announced that the head of the National Public Security Directorate, Luis Fernando Barrantes Jimenezwas removed from his position to replace Gutiérrez in Matagalpa.
In 2020 Barrantes was accused by the journalist Miguel Mora, for allegedly attempting the life of his wife, also a journalist Verónica Chávez, when leaving a meeting in the city of Masaya. The police chief was also singled out for allegedly preventing demonstrations in favor of human rights in 2018.
Other changes announced by the Police were the Ivan Jose Escobar Ramirezwho was head of the DIE and will go on to lead the International Airports Administration Company (EAAI), while the deputy police chief of Chinandega, Victor Leonel Huerta González He will replace Rodriguez.
The Nicaraguan Police did not refer to the case of the head of the Directorate of Investigation and Intelligence, Adolfo Marencowho, according to non-government media, was arrested in recent days for alleged differences with Ortega.
