For more than five months, the Daniel Ortega regime has subjected the incarcerated political prisoners in “the new Chipote” to constant interrogations, isolation in the dark, hunger and worsening of his chronic diseases, his relatives confirm after the third visit allowed in more than half a year, since the arrests began at the end of May 2018, despite the fact that national legislation establishes the right to a weekly visit.
Third visit to political prisoners confirms isolation
Of the political prisoners, captured in the last wave of repression by Daniel Ortega, prior to the November 7 vote, 31 of them share cells in El Chipote. However, four women: Dora María Téllez, Tamara Dávila, Ana Margarita Vijil and Suyén Barahona, members of the Unión Democrática Renovadora (Unamos), remain in total isolation in solitary confinement cells since they were arrested more than 159 days ago.
Peltier Barahona, brother of Suyén Barahona, president of Unamos, assures that she is “firm, strong and that they will never break her”, despite the fact that she has been alone for more than five months. His family is worried about his state of mind, and about the separation from his son.
“We are running out of ways to explain to him that his mother is not there for him (…) For Suyén that means an act of torture that is outside of all due process. The fact that they are depriving her of raising her child, which is a right that she has as a mother. It’s really cruel, ”his brother claimed.
Although conditions are precarious for all political prisoners, the most “urgent” case is that of Tamara Dávila, who “remains completely incommunicado,” said Victoria Cárdenas, wife of the presidential candidate, Juan Sebastián Chamorro. Bertha Valle, wife of the also presidential candidate, Félix Maradiaga, highlighted the case of Dávila and demanded humane treatment for the detainees.
Political prisoners face accelerated weight loss, constant questioning, denial of access to their lawyers, reduced portions of food that translate into malnutrition, blockage of food from their families, and zero communication with the outside. . Some of the prisoners of conscience found out until this November 15 of Ortega’s hate speech, in which he called them “sons of bitches”, “stateless” and hinted at exiling them.
Opposition politician José Pallais told his wife, Jilma Herdocia, that he has never thought of going into exile. While other detainees could not even comment on the socio-political context due to the level of surveillance during the visits.
María Consuelo Céspedes visited her husband, Walter Gómez, former financial manager of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation this Tuesday, November 16. The 55-year-old man has lost 37 pounds in six months of confinement. He does not receive the sun and is in the dark all the time, so he fears that his vision may be affected.
His wife found him in good spirits, even though the interrogations continue. This third visit “hit us more” because “we don’t want to leave it,” she expressed saddened. For two hours they limited themselves to talking about family issues because the environment did not allow to delve into the situation in the country, he said.
Violeta Granera with dental and gastric problems
Julio Sandino, son of Violeta Granera and exile in the United States, assures that his mother has lost a little more than 25 pounds, but is trying to eat to recover. Although it is “very hard to be without freedom,” he continues to resist with the help of God, he said.
Granera suffers from dental and gastric problems, which makes it difficult to eat food. “His teeth were broken due to the harshness of some meals and he needs urgent work done because he cannot eat any more with his front teeth. It takes a long time to eat and that gives him gastric problems. There are some foods that he cannot eat because they are fried and hard, ”said her son.
In the loneliness of prison, Granera has been praying since she wakes up. His call to the population is that they do not lose hope and resist.
José Pallais with sores on his back
“He’s subsisting,” replies Dr. José Pallais’s wife, Jilma Herdocia, after she visited him in jail. The opposition politician continues to lose weight, but no longer at an accelerated rate. He also suffers from pain and has sores on his back. He sleeps in a chair to cope with his sleep apnea and continues to take antibiotics.
“A few days ago he was sleeping very badly, and he cannot sleep on his stomach with his back problems,” his wife said. When he was arrested, he was kept in isolation, but he currently shares a cell with another political prisoner. They only come out for questioning or visits to the clinic. From Herdocia’s perspective, the treatment of the detainees “is softer” because he no longer wakes them up at night. He “is morally sound,” he remarked.
Félix Maradiaga in twilight
However, in the case of the presidential candidate, Félix Maradiaga, the prison conditions have not changed: he remains in total darkness, he barely receives sun every ten days for about 15 minutes, the diet is deficient, the interrogations are constant and he must remain silent. . For his wife, Bertha Valle, these circumstances do not represent the slightest respect for human dignity.
“The issue of health monitoring of political prisoners is not something that is being taken with belligerence. There are people who have various health complications, ”said Valle. Regarding the questions against her husband, Valle indicated that the questions are linked to the “false accusations” against the opponents, they have become repetitive, so she considers that the true intention is to maintain the psychological pressure on them.
Maradiaga and the rest of the political prisoners remained without seeing their relatives for 41 days, since the last visit, on October 11. “This is an act of torture,” Valle denounced.
Norma Vega, wife of Pedro Vásquez, driver of Cristiana Chamorro -who is under house arrest-, indicated that her health and spirits remain firm and strong.
“I leave everything in the hands of God because the only judge is Jesus Christ. I keep thinking positively, and from here we left, because we left, ”Vásquez told his wife.
Lesther Alemán goes hungry and Aguirre Sacasa under interrogation
Lesbia Alfaro, mother of the student leader, Lesther Alemán, assures that her son is much better, both physically and spiritually, compared to the previous visit. However, the 25 pound loss is remarkable. Alemán is thinner and looks pale because he barely gets the sun for ten minutes once a week.
He also experiences a lot of headache that, according to Alemán, is caused by confinement and lack of food, hunger. Their food portions are insufficient. Some days they give them two drinks and others just one. At the same time, he suffers from pain in his back because the mat that covers the cold slab in prison is too thin and because of his height, he must rest with his legs drawn up.
The interrogations are daily for a period of half an hour, indicated Alfaro, who demands that they allow the entry of food to all political prisoners.
Former Foreign Minister Francisco Aguirre Sacasa is interrogated two to three times a day. They wake him up at four in the morning for no reason. The rest of the time, like the rest of the prisoners, he must remain silent, which “mentally is torture,” said his daughter, Georgie Aguirre.
José Adán Aguerri could not say goodbye to his mother
Carolina Jackson, daughter of the former president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep), José Adán Aguerri, said that her father has lost 30 pounds and “psychologically – he is – affected by the death of his mother and not being able to say goodbye. Concerned and with anguish for his family and his country, ”he said.
Aguerri’s mother, Hilda Chamorro Hurtado, died on October 11, without the opportunity to see her son released, captured by the Ortega regime, on June 8. Jackson assures that the prisoners of conscience are not well and does not know why they have not had a report of the medical examinations that Legal Medicine carried out.
A general demand of political prisoners is that they allow them to enter blankets and cold clothes, since they are currently covered with towels, which are insufficient in the face of the temperature change characteristic of the end of the year. They also request that they be allowed to enter Bibles. Family members continue to demand their freedom and invited the population to join in fasting and prayer this Thursday, November 18. They cry out for a “Christmas without political prisoners.”
