Political prisoner Kevin Emilio Castillo Prado completed 29 years in the cells of the new León Penitentiary System, imprisoned for participating in barricades that the people of León erected as a form of protest against the Ortega and Murillo government in 2018.
Castillo Prado’s face was very popular in the 2018 anti-government protests. The young man was imprisoned in 2019 and accused of committing various crimes such as terrorist actions and drug trafficking, although he was released in June 2020, under the amnesty law.
“All that time that Kevin was free, he was besieged by police patrols, day and night,” said a relative, who asked not to be named in this report for fear of political reprisals.
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Castillo’s relatives regret that they have not released him with the other political prisoners. “It is a thousand times better outside the country than in that jail, where not only he suffers, but the whole family as well,” adds a relative. In mid-2021, the young opponent, uniformed and plainclothes men from the regime, came to take him out of his house and accused him of the same crimes for which he had been amnestied.
“I remember that that day they came violently to the house, they called Kevin a gatekeeper, they yelled at him for a coup and that he was imprisoned and transferred to Chinandega for selling drugs,” said the wife of the political prisoner, who assured that “it was an odyssey for the family what we live and then find him. All of this has been sad.”
health affected
On November 9, 2022, the new León Penitentiary System was inaugurated under the name of “Santos Bárcenas Centeno”. It was learned that many inmates who were in the Chinandega Penitentiary Center were transferred to these new facilities.
According to his relatives, Kevin Castillo was transferred in December 2022, which has been affecting his health. “He suffers from hypertension after he got COVID-19 when he was incarcerated the first time. This penalty change has affected him. We have learned that in this new prison system they treat prisoners badly, Kevin has shared that he does not feel well there and his health has deteriorated, “said his life partner.
He explained that visits to this new inmate center are monitored, and despite the fact that it is a new place, which has a modern infrastructure, relatives of prisoners assure that the treatment of political prisoners and other inmates “is rude.” “Sometimes there is not even water for the prisoners to bathe,” said the relative of another prisoner who was transferred.
On more than one occasion, social networks have denounced the discontent expressed by Leonese citizens due to the inhumane treatment received by those deprived of their liberty in this new western prison.
Although on the day of its inauguration the regime’s spokesperson, Rosario Murillo, said in her customary midday address that the place is the most modern Penitentiary Center in Nicaragua and that there would be humane treatment, the truth is that it is where the most complain relatives of detainees.
“Free Kevin”, they ask
In the list of the 222 released and exiled by the Ortega-Murillo regime was added the Leonese political prisoner Oscar Centeno, who was imprisoned with Kevin Castillo in the Chinandega prison.
«Oscar was not changed from a penalty, but Kevin was, perhaps that affected him so that he was not released. We ask the human rights organizations and the media to pressure Kevin along with the rest of the political prisoners not to remain locked up any longer,” the relatives requested.
The wife of the political prisoner had to change her address when she became a target of a police siege. She assured that her husband is on the list of the Union of Political Prisoners in Nicaragua (UPPN), along with Maycol Jon Herrera Gutiérrez, from Nagarote.
For the opponent Elver Rojas, police and parapolice surveillance has intensified in the streets of the city of León, after the expulsion of more than 200 political prisoners.
Journalists working cautiously for fear of retaliation describe a tense atmosphere in the city, where everyone feels they are being watched. In León, the strong internal struggles of the Sandinista Front party are well known. “Here nobody trusts anyone and yes, it feels that we are more watched,” said an anonymous militant.
By United Voices
