Retired General Humberto Ortega Saavedra, brother of Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega, called for a “holy truce” to prevent the country from embarking on “brutal chaos.” In addition, the former head of the Nicaraguan Army exonerated his older brother of the crimes against humanity of which he is accused by international organizations.
Through an opinion article published by Ortega in the daily The Press, proposes that «the national parties must stop the high confrontation of hate, exclusion. Different opponents in exile, networks, are intransigent, and encourage revenge on the government, and categorically oppose the negotiation, hoping that the Government will explode violently, “says the former general.
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«With the spiritual recollection of the nearby Holy Week in April, the national parties will cease the high confrontation of hatred, exclusion. Initiating communication through different modalities in order to reduce the intense political polarization, a climate that the governments involved support without sanctions, to facilitate reaching basic, viable agreements promptly,” Ortega added in his letter.
Given this, the former head of the Army stated that “the freedom of Bishop Rolando Álvarez contributes to this complex communication effort” to “facilitate and reach basic agreements promptly.”
Monsignor Álvarez was sentenced to 26 years in prison for alleged crimes of treason on February 10, after refusing to be exiled from Nicaragua. This action by the prelate enraged Ortega, who ordered him to be locked up in a punishment cell in the “La Modelo” prison in Tipitapa.
Likewise, Ortega has considered that the decisions made by the regime to banish 222 opponents are “very good in the path of seeking greater communication and dialogue between the Government of Nicaragua and the United States. It is clear that this (the release of the 222 political prisoners) was the product of an exchange.”
The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega took away the nationality of 94 Nicaraguans on February 15, including journalists, activists, human rights defenders, former officials of the regime, and opponents. It also ordered the confiscation of “all real estate and companies that the defendants have registered in their favor, either personally or legal persons or companies in which they participate as partners, to answer for the crimes committed.”
The president’s brother concludes his message by expressing that he considers it necessary “to favor negotiation, a means defined by General Augusto César Sandino as ‘effective democracy’, with the vigor of Rubén Darío, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro and Carlos Fonseca.”
