The Ortega regime dealt another blow against its former political ally, businessman Leonardo Torres, who will be left out of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN), a chair he has held since mid-2018, after the resignation of the former president of the Superior Council of the Company. Private (Cosep) and now a political prisoner, José Adán Aguerri. This position was the last public connection of Torres with the dictatorship, after they directed the closure of organizations linked to the businessman.
Daniel Ortega ordered that Torres Céspedes finish his term at the BCN on May 31, 2022, and as of June 1, Germán Manolo Miranda becomes a “proprietary member.” Along with him, Francisco José Quiñonez Murphy, will also be a member of the state banking entity for a period of five years, according to presidential agreements 54-2022 and 59-2022, published in La Gaceta, Official Gazette, this Wednesday, April 6.
Torres’ break with the regime has been known since November 2021. The digital media Divergentes published that the businessman was unable to leave the country, as well as other officials of the regime whom the dictatorship did not authorize to travel.
In mid-December, the regime, through the Ministry of the Interior (Migob), ordered the cancellation of the legal status of the Hispano-American University (Uhispam), the Nicaraguan Council of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (Conimipyme), the Nicaraguan Chamber of the Micro, Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises (Cantur), the Association of Consultants for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises (Acodep) and the Association of Economists of Nicaragua, all linked to Torres, according to reports from La Prensa and CONFIDENTIAL.
The businessman, who was also part of the delegation of the Ortega regime in the first national dialogue, in 2018, since his break with the regime, has stayed away from the independent media, to whom he usually responded to address tourism and economic issues. He has not been seen in the media related to the government party either.
Torres had stood out for his militancy with the Sandinista Front. According to the newspaper La Prensa, in 2002 he participated as a candidate for member of the National Directorate of the Sandinista Front, but some time later he resigned from his candidacy.
BanCorp tokens
Miranda and Quiñonez are two former directors of the sanctioned Corporate Bank (Bancorp). His appointment occurs a day after the regime separated from the Board of Directors of the BCN, Helio Montenegro Díaz, former president of the bank Produce, and appointed Tirso Celedón Lacayo in his placethe main executive of the real estate business of banker Ramiro Ortiz Gurdián, owner of Banco Promerica, which has a presence in nine countries in the region, and operates in Nicaragua under the name Banpro.
Celedón has been associated with various structures linked to the business of the presidential couple, such as BanCorp, where he served as one of its directors, until the entity was sanctioned by the United States Governmentwhich led to bankruptcy.
