Luis Carrión, leader of the opposition Democratic Renovating Union (Unamos), described the death of political prisoner Hugo Torres as “a crime”, after having spent eight months in isolation in the Chipote prison, and demanded an independent investigation to clarify the tragedy and save other prisoners of conscience whose lives are in danger in prison.
Carrión demanded access to the country to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the OAS, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the International Red Cross to conduct an independent investigation, while the Police, the Public Ministry, and the Government “have no credibility.”
“This crime has been committed by the regime, because as long as the circumstances of Hugo’s death are not clarified, and having been in the custody of the Government, it is responsible for his death,” Carrión said in an interview with the television program This week airing this Sunday at 8:00 PM
Torres, 73, vice president of Unamos, was a hero of the struggle against the Somoza dynasty who became a political prisoner of the Ortega regime since June 13 of last year. He was accused of allegedly violating the law “to defend the rights of the people to independence, sovereignty and self-determination for peace”, approved by the dictatorship in December 2020 as a repressive instrument used against opponents in an election year.
He is the second deceased political prisoner, after Eddy Montes was killed “Cold-blooded” by a custodian in 2019 in another case that caused national and international rejection. Torres was on the list of political prisoners that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered release The Fourth Of November Last, however, the Nicaraguan government ignored the resolution.
Read: “Hugo faced two dictatorships, and died in the second”
The death was finally officially admitted this Saturday afternoon by the Public Ministry, through a three paragraph statement in which he affirms that the death was caused by a deterioration of his health, which motivated him to be transferred to a hospital where he was allowed to be accompanied by his children.
Carrión pointed out that the State’s pronouncement left several doubts. “We don’t have any information about the cause, his diagnosis, the situation that brought him to the hospital. We hoped that the Government, as it is his responsibility, would inform us of the circumstances of his death, the causes, where he died, when, not even that is clearly stated in the statement from the Public Ministry, ”he said.
Government reported death 15 hours later
According to the information known by Unamos, thanks to direct sources in the El Chipote prison and in the Police, the retired general began to present health problems since the beginning of December of last year, then it worsened and finally he became unconscious. The alarm of the other inmates caused the authorities to arrive at the cell and decide to transfer him to the hospital.
For more than two months the whereabouts of Torres were unknown and independent organizations such as the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) unsuccessfully demanded to know reports on the prisoner’s health, until this Saturday, February 12, the tragic outcome was known.
Carrión revealed that Hugo Torres died at ten o’clock at night on Friday, February 11, 2022. The statement from the Public Ministry was sent until 1:33 p.m. on Saturday from the email of the spokesperson and vice president Rosario Murillo, which which means that the regime hid his death for more than 15 hours.
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“The circumstances in which the death of Hugo Torres occurred cannot be known for sure, and the government cannot be exonerated from responsibility, as long as there is no independent investigation that establishes the causes and, above all, the entire process that led to it. Carrion insisted.
The children of the deceased, Hugo Marcel, María Alejandra and Lucía Aracelly, announced that “by the express will of their father” no funeral services or public ceremonies would be held. Carrión considered that the death is a blow to his family, but also to the UNAMOS leadership in whose organization Torres was vice president. He also valued the loss as a tragedy for “the fighters for democracy who lose a firm and courageous voice that systematically denounced the abuses and crimes of the dictatorship without fear.”
“Life of political prisoners is at risk”
Currently in Nicaragua there are at least 170 political prisoners, of which 46 were arrested in the months prior to the voting last November, when Ortega was re-elected in a vote without democratic guarantees, eliminating political competition by order the arrest of the main political, economic and social leaders.
For Luis Carrión, the death of Hugo Torres in prison highlights the health situation of all political prisoners and shows that the Ortega dictatorship does not ensure medical care or the necessary conditions so that political prisoners do not see their condition aggravated. situation.
For months, the relatives of the prisoners of conscience have demanded their immediate release, in addition to denouncing the isolation and torture to which they are subjected by the Police, the poor diet, and the weight loss that most of them have suffered. of them as a result of the precarious conditions of confinement.
Among the political prisoners there are ten who are elderly and whose situation is more vulnerable: Edgar Parrales, Francisco Aguirre Sacasa, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, Arturo Cruz, José Pallais, Violeta Granera, Mauricio Díaz, Dora María Téllez, Víctor Hugo Tinoco, and Nidia Barboza.
“The lives of political prisoners are at risk, therefore, they should be released, they have not committed any crime,” argued the UNAMOS leader, who also referred to the processes carried out by 15 judicial officials, including judges and prosecutors, who carry out orders to ensure the conviction of political prisoners.
“Judicial executions”
Carrión described these legal processes as “judicial executions”, because they do not have even the shadow of a resemblance to a real trial, since the right to defense of the prisoners has been violated, without even allowing them a minimum of communication with their lawyers.
“This is a farce and it will continue because this regime has no sense of humanity, no respect for justice or the law. It is part of the process of torture and revenge that they have established against these political prisoners,” he lamented.
What’s more: International condemnation for the death of Hugo Torres and demand the release of political prisoners
The former member of the National Directorate of the FSLN, described as a “cruel irony” that Torres has died turned into a political prisoner of Daniel Ortega, when by a heroic action of a guerrilla command in which Torres participated in 1974 the current ruler was released , after the seizure of the house of former minister José María Castillo, and the subsequent negotiation with the dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle.
Carrión said that one of the basic feelings of human beings is gratitude, which the current president did not take into account when ordering the imprisonment of Hugo Torres.
The Unamos director added that Ortega shows no signs of taking a step to overcome the deep political, humanitarian and social crisis in which Nicaragua is plunged. Since 2018, when thousands of Nicaraguans called for the dictator’s resignation in the streets and were repressed, they died while least 355 people in the context of the protests, according to the IACHR. More than 100,000 people went into exile, however, Ortega “is clinging to power and tries to inherit it from his family,” said Carrión, while stressing that the only possible possibility for the country is democracy.
Until now, the Nicaraguan Army has not commented on the death of retired general Hugo Torres as a political prisoner, a silence that for Luis Carrión “has no explanation.”
In 2018, retired General Hugo Torres reproached the military command that did not disarm the irregular paramilitary forces of the regime, responsible for the massive human rights violations perpetrated against citizens for four years.
