The increase in infections by covid-19 that has been registered in Nicaragua for five weeks, is also perceived among political prisoners in the Jorge Navarro Penitentiary System, known as La Modelo, where more than 20 suspicious cases are reported, denounces the representative of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners and Prisoners Brenda Gutierrez. TOIn addition, he said that there are cases among common prisoners with whom they share cells and have not received adequate medical care.
Katherine Bonilla, wife of political prisoner Julio César Pineda Izaguirre and member of the Committee, told CONFIDENTIAL that her partner is one of the political prisoners who has symptoms associated with covid-19 and that after a week he still does not receive medical attention in a hospital or in prison.
“We had a visitor last week and my husband told us he was sick. He has a cough, fever for a week, a sore throat, stomach problems and severe body aches, “he explained.
She indicated that, upon leaving the visit she had on February 8, she asked the authorities of La Modelo that her husband be taken to a hospital, since most of the common prisoners with whom he shares a cell have the same symptoms. , some even have loss of smell and taste, and fear that it is coronavirus.
“When they asked us to sign that letter, where they say that we affirm that we found them well, I told them to take him to a hospital, but so far they have not done so,” he denounced.
He adds that they are concerned about the health condition of prisoners of conscience “because there is practically an outbreak within La Modelo”, and they detailed that only in cell 8, of Gallery 6, located on the ground floor, “are affected with similar symptoms and have little access to medicine.”
Bonilla rescues that her husband has already left vaccinated against covid-19 inside the prison, with a dose of Sputnik Light inoculant. However, he regrets that, after a week with symptoms, they continue to ignore him. “There they have them locked up suffering their pain, without knowing if they have the virus or not, suffering those symptoms that make one think they have covid-19,” she described.
“Our demand, in addition to immediate freedom, because they have unjustly locked him up for more than a year in prison, is that they give him medical attention, access to more medicines, we do not want him to die from covid-19, he has three children in total, only one with me, and we don’t want anything bad to happen to him,” Bonilla urged.
Inmates of La Modelo with difficulty breathing
Relatives of two other prisoners of conscience of La Modelo indicated, in an interview with CONFIDENTIALthat their relatives also have symptoms associated with covid-19 and have worsened in the last week.
“The two that we have prisoners have vomit, cough, fever, body pain, they feel short of breath and have worsened in recent days, since February 7 they have had these symptoms, and they have not been taken to a hospital,” they reported.
Both prisoners of conscience, like Pineda, were vaccinated with a single dose of the Sputnik light inoculant, of Russian origin, but the authorities “still do not take them to a hospital.”
“They are surviving with the little medication that we are allowed to pass on, pills for pain, for diarrhea, for the flu, things like that that one takes from before, anticipating that they could get sick, but it is not the same, they have to make them the test to find out if it is covid-19, because they are not being treated as suspected cases of covid-19″, they pointed out.
Infections among imprisoned peasants in La Modelo
The Peasant Movement also reported, through its social networks, three cases of prisoners of conscience belonging to its organization who have symptoms linked to the coronavirus.
“Pablo Emilio Téllez, Jader Modesto Téllez and Juan Agustín Barilla Chavarría, are in poor health. They have a fever, headache, diarrhea and vomiting.
They also denounced that the three “are not receiving medical attention and do not allow their relatives to give them medicine.”
“Their relatives are concerned and demand that a doctor attend to them immediately,” they highlighted in the publication.
The Ministry of Health (Minsa) has reported, in the last five weeks, a constant increase in the number of infections registered in the country, although it keeps deaths stagnant at one per week. From February 8 to 15, according to this week’s bulletin, 104 people infected with coronavirus were counted, 22 more than the previous period, when there were 82 cases.
The Citizen Observatory has also warned about this increase in the number of infections. According to its latest report, between January 27 and February 9 there were 290 infections attributable to covid-19 and three deaths.
