The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo showed for the first time, after more than a year of keeping them locked up in El Chipote, photographs of political prisoners Walter Gómez, Marcos Fletes, Pedro Vásquez, Miguel Mora, Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Medardo Mairena, Max Jerez, Lesther Aleman, Jose Antonio Pereza, and Michael Healy.
?? #URGENT | Police present political prisoners Marcos Fletes, Walter Gómez Silva and Pedro Vásquez, former employees of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, whom they accuse of alleged money laundering after several months of confinement in El Chipote https://t.co/J6IpwrPe9v pic.twitter.com/1zgQHbgcRp
— Confidential Nicaragua (@confidencial_ni) August 30, 2022
The presentation occurred hours after relatives of prisoners of conscience denounced that these suffer from “malnutrition and extreme weight loss”product of a drastic reduction and “incompatible with life” in the food they receive.
“We are extremely alarmed by the drastic reduction of food rations after the last visit, reaching extremes incompatible with life. The increase in rations reported in our previous communication, not only was not maintained, but was reduced more than ever, causing more malnutrition and extreme weight loss that has us extremely concerned”, the relatives indicated in a joint statement, released at a press conference on August 29.
The regime’s response to the complaint was a series of “informative hearings”, led by Magistrate Octavio Ernesto Rothschuh, president of the Managua Court of Appeals (TAM), who notified the convicted opponents, all men, about how the process is progressing. judicial. Only the official press and media linked to Sandinismo had access to the sessions, which shared photographs and videos of the prisoners on their digital platforms.
In the images, the political prisoners are clearly thinner and paler, who according to the regime’s propaganda media are “enjoying perfect health conditions.”
Opposition leaders, students and businessmen
The three aspiring presidential candidates for the opposition, who intended to challenge President Ortega in the elections last November and who were shown by the official press are: Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Medado Mairena and Miguel Mora.
The student leader Lesther Alemán, 24, was also exhibited, who rebuked Ortega during the start of a failed national dialogue in May 2018, where he asked for his surrender; as well as the president of the Nicaraguan University Alliance (AUN), Max Jerez.
In addition, the businessman Michael Healy was presented, who was arrested when he presided over the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep), the main employer leadership in Nicaragua; and the political scientist and co-author of two books José Antonio Peraza Collado.
The other three were the general accountant and the financial administrator of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, Marcos Fletes and Walter Gómez, respectively, and Pedro Vásquez, personal driver of the director of that NGO, Cristiana Chamorro.
The opponents, arrested between May and November 2021, were sentenced to between 7 and 13 years in prison for crimes considered to be “treason” or money laundering.
President Ortega has branded them “traitors to the country”, “criminals” and “sons of bitches of the yankee imperialists”.
“Face wash”
Exiled human rights defender Pablo Cuevas told journalists that the Ortega government shows political prisoners as part of a “horror campaign” with the purpose of “intimidate Nicaraguan citizens”.
“The dictatorship took a false step with all this attack on religious freedom and the kidnapping of priests and laity and they know that internationally it has increased questioning, discredit and illegitimacy”commented, for her part, the exiled Nicaraguan activist Haydée Castillo.
According to Castillo, the authorities “seek to wash their face before the international community”.
