The former deputy of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) and former mayor of San Juan del Sur, Gerardo Miranda Obregón, was released this Monday, April 4, after staying for seven days. imprisoned in El Chipote.
The police authorities did not explain the reasons for the arrest or the causes of the “investigation” against Miranda, who was released without legal charges.
FSLN sources confirmed that Miranda was seen calmly in San Juan del Sur, but they affirmed that he was warned by the Police of the annoyance of Vice President Rosario Murillo, for “conspiring” with the “historical Sandinista” movement, which the number two of the regime has ordered to dissolve.
According to the same sources, the immediate trigger for his arrest was that Miranda organized a meeting in Tola with several members of the “historical” and three officials from the San Juan del Sur Mayor’s Office, who were subsequently fired from their positions.
“They allegedly talked about organizing a process of internal protest among the employees of the Mayor’s Office for some dismissals and taking advantage of party meetings to express their discontent and question the current mayor, “they added.
Miranda is silent
CONFIDENTIAL tried to communicate directly with Gerardo Miranda on more than three occasions this week. However, a person who did not identify himself responded with his cell phone and said that the former official stayed on the street and always left his cell phone at home. Then, when I rang him again, the answer was voice mail.
Another FSLN source consulted added that Miranda could be being investigated “for various extortion and human trafficking activities” in which he was involved, but did not provide further details. He also did not dare to fuel further speculation.
Gerardo Miranda is the second member of the political leadership of the FSLN who has been detained in Chipote by the Police, and later released without charges being filed against him in court. In mid-February, Judge Ileana Pérez was detained by the Police and questioned in El Chipote, for a case of corruption in the Rivas property registry, but later, she returned to her job without charge.
The discomfort of the “historical”
Rosario Murillo recently ordered to “deactivate” to the historic Sandinismo to concentrate greater power in Murillo by merging them with party professionals in the Electoral Victory Units, in charge of monitoring neighborhoods in the electoral context, activated last year when Ortega was re-elected without electoral competition after arresting 7 presidential candidates, social and business leaders .
The party’s order to step aside, addressed to the Sandinista veterans, was communicated through a memorandum signed by retired Colonel Leopoldo Rivas Alfaro, the coordinator of care for this group within the FSLN, and caused discomfort among some of them who have questioned the vice president.
Miranda was a Sandinista deputy and consul, but did not currently hold any position. His link with the FSLN secretariat was with retired Colonel Lenín Cerna, former secretary of organization for the ruling party until 2011, when he was removed from his post after disputes with Murillo and the presidential couple’s security adviser, Néstor Moncada Lau. .
Despite Cerna’s expulsion from El Carmen, Miranda maintained a close political relationship with Cerna and his lieutenants Vicente Chávez and Rodoldo “Payín” Castillo.
Tola’s extortion
According the investigation “Extortion in Tola”, published in May 2007 by the television program Esta Semana, Gerardo Miranda extorted businessman Armel González from whom he asked for four million dollars to free him from legal obstacles that a cooperative was putting up for the tourism project Tola Sands or sands bay : 60 luxury homes developed by foreign investors.
“Make an offer, give him a lot, even if it is, put it in a sealed envelope, we will take it to the boss. I don’t know which boss he was referring to, but the point is that Mr. Miranda told us that,” González said in that report.
Miranda is also remembered for other cases of corruption such as the distribution of land between Sandinista militants and their relatives, when he was mayor of San Juan del Sur.
