The German ambassador to Nicaragua, Christoph Bundscherer, highlighted the importance of a free and democratic society in which “the people are not imprisoned for their political convictions ”, during his speech at the 40th high school graduation from the Nicaraguan German School, held this Friday, December 3, in which a granddaughter of the presidential couple, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, graduated. The young woman attended the event with her parents: Maurice Ortega Murillo and Blanca Díaz, the daughter of the director of the National Police, Francisco Díaz.
The diplomat assured that “every country should be proud of its youth who participate in political life, who fight for a better future for their country,” although he regretted that many of these young people “pay a high price for their struggle.”
“We should accompany, at least in our thoughts, these brave people,” said the German ambassador at the ceremony.
Maurice directs Viva Nicaragua, channel 13, along with his sisters Camila and Luciana Ortega Murillo. The television channel is part of the battery of communication media acquired by the presidential family, part of them with public funds. His wife, Blanca, is the daughter of the Chief of Police.
Commissioner Díaz and the National Police -as an institution- were sanctioned by the United States for violating human rights in the context of state repression that began in 2018 and that, during that year alone, left more than 300 deaths, thousands of injuries and Hundreds of political prisoners, in an attempt by the Daniel Ortega regime to quell the massive citizen protests that demanded his departure from power. Since then, tens of thousands of Nicaraguans have fled the socio-political situation and economic deterioration, including political and civil leaders, and journalists, all persecuted and threatened with jail and death.
In Nicaragua, the serious crisis of human rights violations committed by the current regime and denounced at the international level persists. Since May of this year, the Ortega regime unleashed a new hunt against opponents, social leaders, students, journalists and human rights defenders, including seven candidates for the presidency, subjecting them to psychological torture and isolation. In addition, Ortega and Murillo have imposed a de facto police state and violated civic freedoms to prevent any type of critical demonstration or dissent.
Ambassador Bundscherer highlighted the value of tolerance and, within the framework of the celebration of Human Rights Day, on December 10, expressed that many young people, such as those now high school graduates, “defend the values that make up a free and democratic society. , freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, tolerance towards people of other religions, of other origin and with other political beliefs. They fight for a world in which people are not imprisoned for their political convictions (…) ”, he said.
The ambassador added that young people work for societies in which “the press can express themselves freely, in which people with the same interests can freely unite to form organizations or political parties, in which the accused have a fair trial and are not mistreated. “Reflected the diplomat.
In the country there are more than 160 political prisoners who are not recognized by the Ortega regime and whose relatives continue to demand their freedom. The independent media CONFIDENTIAL and 100% Noticias have been closed, censored and confiscated, while the newspaper La Prensa was arbitrarily occupied by the Police, and its manager arrested and charged without evidence of money laundering.
The girl who paraded with the photo of her father, a political prisoner
In another graduation ceremony held this Saturday, December 4 in Santo Domingo, Chontales, the daughter of political prisoner Lázaro Ernesto Rivas Pérez paraded and received her preschool diploma accompanied by her mother and carrying her father’s photograph.
Rivas has been in prison since July 2020 and was sentenced to seven years in prison for the common crime of robbery, in an attempt to make political reason invisible, said his brother Ulises Rivas, from exile.
Ulises said that his five-year-old niece has suffered a lot from her father’s separation and remembers it through photographs. Every time there is a visit to the penitentiary, the girl wakes up very early to attend, explained the young man, also a politically persecuted person and who was very moved to see her parading with the photo in her hands.
In the socio-political context of Nicaragua, several sons and daughters of mortal victims of state repression or political prisoners have uploaded photographs of their relatives at graduation ceremonies. The same has happened with some cases of victims of the covid-19 pandemic.
