The Sandinista mayors of the municipalities of Murra and Boaco and the vice mayor of Bluefields, the latter in the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (RACCN), were arbitrarily dismissed in recent days, demonstrating that the dictatorship is continuing its purges within the Sandinista party and state structures, according to an announcement made on August 19 by the independent observatory Urnas Abiertas (UA).
The current mayors are the result of the municipal voting process carried out in November 2022, in which the dictatorship’s party, the Sandinista Front, won the country’s 153 municipalities through an election process riddled with fraud.
“We at Urnas Abiertas have confirmed the dismissal of three new municipal authorities in Nicaragua, in a context where the lack of transparency and the politicization of institutions continue to condition the management of local governments,” says a statement from the independent organization.
The dismissed
According to information confirmed by UA, the mayor of Murra, Nueva Segovia, Luis Averruz López, was dismissed and replaced by deputy mayor Melba Dalila Valladares Colindres.
The dismissal of the now ex-mayor Averruz López was allegedly motivated by an alleged “case of embezzlement,” a scandal for which other municipal officials were removed from their positions.
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Sandinista police and armed civilians have occupied the municipal facilities in Murra.
The dismissed mayor had already occupied that mayoral seat in 2022, when he conspired with the Sandinistas to illegally remove Mayor Francisco Herrera, of the Ciudadanos por la Libertad party.
Sandinista Karla Yaoska Espinoza Peña, who had held that position under the protection of the Sandinistas since 2018, was also removed from her position as mayor of the municipality of Boaco.
The mayor of Boaco was replaced by Eufemia Montes Torrez, who was a councilor for the FSLN. The information confirmed by UA indicates that the new mayor appointed in that municipality is very close to the local political secretary.
Deputy Mayor of Bluefields
The deputy mayor of Bluefields, RACCS, Carla Martin Brooks, who had served as mayor from 2013 to 2018, periods in which she was already removed, is added to the list of mayors arbitrarily dismissed.
“According to citizen networks, Martin was removed for an alleged corruption case from 2015. However, the CGR audits between 2015 and 2020, reviewed by Urnas Abiertas, show that the municipality received six audits without any irregularities being detected,” the citizen organization notes.
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The dictatorship has dismissed 18 of its own mayors since the 2022 municipal elections. “This reflects a worrying pattern of political intervention in local governments,” warns UA.
The UA also recalled that “the apparent discretion in the application of justice and the lack of transparency in the audits carried out by the CGR not only erode public confidence, but also question the legitimacy of the fight against corruption in Nicaragua, where the government’s actions seem more aligned with political control than with true accountability,” the statement concluded.
