Representatives of the Union of Political Prisoners and Prisoners of Nicaragua (UPPN), the Mothers of April Association (AMA) and the Nicaragua Never Again Human Rights Collective held a discussion to reaffirm that they remain unshakable in their demand for justice.
On the eve of the commemoration of the four years of the rebellion of April 19, 2018, the former political Yaritza Mairena, representative of UPPN, affirms that this date is a “renewal” of the Nicaraguan people.
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“April means the dream of Nicaraguans to have a better nation where human rights are respected, where there is a memory with dignity and where there is no more corruption like the one we have experienced all these years,” he said.
For the human rights defender Juan Carlos Arcethe victims of the Ortega dictatorship are countless and “April is the living evidence of the people who took to the streets to say that they could no longer put up with the unjust, authoritarian system based absolutely on the unpunished”.
“Nicaragua was tired of an authoritarian model that was already killing in the countryside, in indigenous areas, and that was already prohibiting demonstrations. That is why April is enough, we can’t take it anymore and we want justice and democracy; we want and believe in a better country,” added Arce.
He also emphasized that April also represented death due to the repression carried out by the Ortega and Murillo regime. “April represented violence that we had never seen or imagined before. As human rights defenders, we are surprised every day with the ability of the Ortega regime to harm, to harass cruelly, viciously.
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For your part susana lopeza member of the Association of Mothers of April and mother of university student Gerald Vásquez, murdered in 2018, stated that since the first murders occurred in April, the route to justice has been opened, “because the mothers wanted to clarify the murders that the State of Nicaragua was committing.
Wave of siege by the Ortega regime
According to Arce, the harassment by the Ortega dictatorship against opponents who have demanded justice has never ceased, «Since 2018 there has been a systematic siege and unprecedented harassment, the entire state apparatus is dedicated to repression and persecution ».
“As a Human Rights Collective we have seen from our monitoring that there has been an increase in harassment and April has been as well as the 2021 presidential elections, there were even twenty arrests, people were afraid they would be kidnapped.”
Regarding the recent sieges and arrests, the defender said that there could be more cases, but many people remain silent for fear of greater repression. “Saying that the Police harass you and arbitrarily raid your house has become a risk for families, because the regime has been effective in imposing state terrorism.”
“In Nicaragua there is not much to do, because there is no state power that acts in accordance with the law. The only thing left to do is denounce internationally before the office of the United Nations High Commissioner… », he stressed.
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According to López, AMA has compiled all the abuses by the Ortega regime. «The Ortega dictatorship threatens the victims of April even to celebrate mass, that is why we continue denouncing. It is unfortunate that the regime does not recognize the victims of April.”
Yaritza Mairena affirmed that we must continue fighting because “it is up to all sectors to do justice, since that will allow us to transform the political system of Nicaragua and be able to build a new nation.”
