The retired first commissioner Edwin Cordero Ardila, former head of the National Police, died on the morning of this January 19 at the Carlos Roberto Huembes Hospital, where he was hospitalized, the police institution confirmed through a note in which they expressed their “ condolences” to the bereaved family.
“The National Police expresses the most sincere expressions of condolences and solidarity to his wife, retired Senior Commissioner Raquel Balladares Vallejos, and to his family for such an unfortunate loss,” reads part of the letter.
Cordero, who died at the age of 70, will be remembered —according to the police institution— as founder of the National Police and for serving for 27 years, holding different management positions, culminating his police career as director general in 2006, when he handed over the position to Commissioner Aminta Granera Sacasa.
The National Police did not give details of the cause of the death of the former police chief. The 100% News Channel, through a publication on his website, indicated that he learned that the former police chief had been hospitalized since January 16, as a result of “pneumonia that afflicted him” and died after suffering “three heart attacks.”
Scandal-plagued administration
The former police chief had one of the administrations (2001-2006) most criticized for alleged acts of corruption. RAs soon as he began his leadership, Cordero was accused of receiving some heifers from the government of former President Arnoldo Alemán (1997-2002).
The police command publicly admitted that the police “paid with drugs” to their informants. “Before there was no money, some drug bosses in the country told informants: Well, keep a kilo, we’ll take the rest and capture the criminal”, noted on July 8, 2003.
Cordero retracted days later and insisted that these practices were carried out before his term as head of the Nicaraguan Police.
In the last year of the Cordero administration, in 2006, after the murder of Jerónimo Polanco, owner of two nightclubs in the capital, new scandals were unleashed against the police institution, as relatives of Polanco revealed that high-ranking police officers Nacional received payments from citizens as compensation for protection.
The last time Cordero was seen in public was in August 2019, when he was awarded the medal for the 40th anniversary of the founding of the National Police.
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