Ana Lucía Álvarez, a relative of two prisoners of conscience of the Daniel Ortega regime, denounced this Sunday, July 3, a system of “control and punishment” that seeks to strip detainees of their dignity.
Álvarez and the director of the human rights organization Race and Equality, Carlos Quesadagave an interview on the television program Esta Semana on the occasion of the launch of the “Free Nicas Now” campaign, which demands their release.
“What the regime is trying to do, in this kind of annihilation policy, is to strip our relatives of their dignity. Of all your rights. Until the control of the parcel, water, Ana Margarita Vijil went without access to toilet paper for 15 days, “lamented Álvarez.
The complainant is the sister of the political prisoner Támara Dávila and the niece of the inmate Ana Margarita Vijil.
Ana Margarita is one of the most 60 people who were imprisoned in 2021, when the votes were given presidential elections in which Ortega was re-elected after annulling the electoral competition, repressing his possible competitors, political, social and business leaders.
The concern about the health of the prisoners, expressed by Álvarez, coincides with the demand of Berta Valle, wife of the former presidential candidate Félix Maradiagawho demanded that the doors of the El Chipote prison be opened so that international organizations can verify the state of the detainees, who are subjected to continuous interrogations, sleep deprivation and poor nutrition.
For Quesada, of Race and Equality, what happens in Nicaragua is unfortunate, because when a person is deprived of their liberty for political reasons, “their entire family” is also detained.
Race and Equality launched the “Free Nicas Now” campaign, which seeks to influence the world and report on the reality of prisoners of conscience in Nicaragua, at least 190.
That campaign made it possible for them to put up an advertisement with the demand for freedom, in front of the Nicaraguan embassy in San José, Costa Rica, a strong message to a regime that insists on calling prisoners of conscience criminals and accuses them of trying to destabilize the country.
“From Race and Equality, a political prisoner is too much. We are not going to rest until they are released,” Quesada promised.
For his part, Álvarez insisted that they have every reason to worry, after the deaths of Eddy Montes and the former General Hugo Torres Jimenezin the custody of the State, which bears the greatest responsibility for the tragic outcome of both.
The issue of food and the doctor are reasons for concern. “There is an intentional policy, because it is not circumstantial, that our relatives are not having access to food, that in some cases they are losing up to 40 pounds in a short period of time and also that they are not having access to timely or specialized medical care. ”, stressed Álvarez, who recalled that some inmates have chronic conditions.
The complainant expressed her solidarity with Berta Valle, after her urgent call to know the state of health of Maradiaga on Friday, July 1. Less than a day later, the Ortega regime presented him in the Managua courts to read him the ratification of his sentence, while he was subjected to harassment by the official media.
The repressive patterns of Cuba and Venezuela
Quesada also referred to the repressive patterns in Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela and lamented that, in all three countries, the persecution against freedom of expression is repeated.
“(One of the patterns is) to use the legislation, in this case the criminal codes, create laws to be able to have the legal argument and criminalize,” he said.
Quesada assured that dictatorships often collaborate in “methods of torture.” “Dictatorships do not work alone, they pass intelligence information,” she denounced.
Álvarez reiterated the need for the release to be immediate, unconditional and with “guarantees of non-repetition” of the abuses of which his relatives were victims.
