The MEP Soraya Rodriguez demanded the Daniel Ortega regime the immediate release of political prisoners and the cessation of attacks against the Catholic Church.
The parliamentarian’s demand comes a day after the kidnapping —on Sunday, August 14— against Father Oscar Benavidez, pastor of the Holy Spirit church, in Mulukukú, who is the third priest detained by Nicaraguan justice.
Related news: Police patrol Mulukukú after the arrest of Father Óscar Benavidez
“No one is safe in Nicaragua, in Ortega’s dictatorship of terror and repression. We ask for the immediate freedom of all political prisoners, the cessation of the attacks on the Catholic Church and the freedom of the detained priests, “Rodríguez demanded, through his official Twitter account.
As opponents, human rights defenders and the international community have done, the MEP demanded “justice and freedom for the people of Nicaragua.”
«It is necessary to remember it, Nicaragua is a dictatorship. The Ortega and Murillo dictatorship that is only capable of offering the people of Nicaragua repression and suffering,” stressed the also lawyer.
They demand more sanctions for Ortega
For its part, the political party European citizensa demanded this Monday, August 15, harsh economic sanctions that “asphyxiate the framework of Ortega”, who does not cease the repression in the country.
Regarding the votes on November 7, 2021, in which Ortega prevailed for another five years, Ciudadanos stated that “Nicaragua is a police state with structural impunity. We do not recognize the electoral farce or any legitimacy of its results.
Related news: MEP Soraya Rodríguez catalogs the situation of political prisoners in Nicaragua as a “humanitarian emergency”
Soraya Rodríguez also sent a message of solidarity to all the families of the political prisoners. She asserted that there is hope that “the European Union can contribute to a prompt and peaceful solution to this deep crisis.”
Quoting the poet Ernesto Cardenal, in Somoza’s time, the MEP stated that “every night in Managua, the presidential house is filled with shadows,” in relation to the political crisis in the country.
He also called for increased protection mechanisms for human rights defenders and journalists “who are still resisting in Nicaragua. We want humanitarian aid to continue, but that no international funding from the European Union and its member states reaches the hands of this corrupt regime.”
Rodríguez joins the demand and widespread condemnation of the international community for the intensification of the siege and repression against the Catholic Church and the opposition in Nicaragua.
