At the feminist forum held on the morning of November 7, which preceded the XV Regional Conference of Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Nicaraguan sociologist and activist María Teresa Blandón demanded the freedom of the more than 20 political prisoners of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
“In Nicaragua there is a dictatorship, we Central Americans stand here today to speak on behalf of our friends, our sisters, our Nicaraguan feminist colleagues who cannot be in that forum today because they are fighting against the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, who murdered more than 350 young people in 2018, who has forced more than 150 human rights defenders into exile, who has closed more than 170 women’s and feminist organizations throughout the national territory and who keeps more than of 230 prisoners, including 21 political prisoners who are being victims of torture, cruel and inhuman treatment, “said the feminist.
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Blandón, together with a group of women, raised posters with the legend “Alert Nicaragua” denouncing the situation that the country is going through in terms of human rights. The sociologist highlighted that among the 21 women political prisoners there are three on hunger strike “to demand humane treatment for them and for the rest of the political prisoners.”
He ended his speech at the forum demanding “freedom for political prisoners in Nicaragua, freedom for the people of Nicaragua. Don’t leave us alone, we have the right to live in freedom,” said Blandón, who was forced into exile.
The Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, which is being held in the City of Buenos Aires from Monday to Friday, is convened regularly every three years with the purpose of analyzing the regional and subregional situation regarding autonomy and women’s rights; present recommendations on public policies for gender equality and carry out periodic evaluations of regional and international agreements.
This activity is organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the United Nations for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women). This year’s conference is entitled “The care society: horizon for a sustainable recovery with gender equality.”
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Last September, the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners registered the arrest of two other citizens, bringing to 21 the total number of political prisoners held by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in the different prisons of the country. During the electoral day of this November 7, the dictatorship made 19 arrests, among which the imprisonment of Yaritza Brenes, “political niece” of the also political prisoner Nidia Barbosa, stands out.
