The Sandinista government is maintaining a secret trial for retired Major Eddie González Valdivia, accused and arrested after facing off with police and paramilitary members, who came to his house in a neighborhood of Estelí (North) to capture him for denouncing the detention and exile of his sister, journalist Nohelia González Valdivia.
According to the digital media Despacho 505, the trial is being conducted by Judge Alma Irías Pino, head of the Estelí District Criminal Court, and began on August 5. González Valdivia, 65, has not been allowed to appoint a defense attorney of his choice and everything is set for him to receive a guilty verdict, the source said.
The court source told the media outlet that “the judicial process is being conducted in secret and that is why the minutes of the hearings as well as the notifications and letters issued by the judges are being hidden.”
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González Valdivia was arrested on July 14 by police and paramilitaries who raided his home in the Juno Rodríguez neighborhood in Estelí. So far, the National Police has not officially justified the raid; however, the trial claims that the retired major was hiding ammunition, a military uniform, explosive material and an AK 47 rifle.
The Estelian, seeing himself surrounded by members of the Police and hooded men dressed in civilian clothes, published on his Facebook profile: “At this moment the police came bb (baby) and violently tried to enter my house. There is only one way.” After his publication, González refused to surrender and the exchange of gunfire began.
The former soldier was also wounded by a bullet and was taken in a patrol car to a medical center in Estelí, according to witnesses who posted videos on social media.
Three days later, the Prosecutor’s Office charged González Valdivia with attempted murder in conjunction with the crimes of manufacturing or possession and use of restricted weapons, explosive substances or devices, improper use of emblems, uniforms or equipment of the Nicaraguan Army, damage and aggravated obstruction of functions.
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According to the Prosecutor’s Office, at the time of his arrest, González was wearing the uniform of the Nicaraguan Army, refused to allow the armed forces to enter and disobeyed the order to throw to the ground an AK 47 weapon that he was carrying. During the shootout, says the Prosecutor’s Office, the major shot at the officers. Norgen Isidro Castellon, German Domingo Rodriguez and Jhotys Alcides Herrera CardenasThe latter two were identified by the Prosecutor’s Office as “volunteer police”, although in Estelí they are identified as paramilitaries.
During the 1970s, González Valdivia was a member of the Sandinista Front and fought against the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. He later joined the Nicaraguan Army and remained in the ranks of the Ortega party until 2018. The tension between the retired major and the Ortega dictatorship worsened after the arrest and exile of his sister.
Nohelia González Valdivia worked for the NGO Acción contra el Hambre (Action Against Hunger), worked for the Catholic Channel run by the released, expelled and denationalized Nicaraguan bishop Rolando Álvarez, and was head of information at the newspaper La Prensa. After her arrest, her whereabouts are unknown, although before the armed incident involving her brother Eddy González, he himself posted on his Facebook account that the journalist had been exiled to the United States.
