The retired former head of the Sandinista Army of Nicaragua Humberto Ortega, who died on Monday in Managua, warned months before that the imposition of house for jail assigned to his residence and the isolation to which he was subjected by police agents, could have consequences on his health, according to an audio published by the investigative media Confidencial, directed by journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro.
Humberto Ortega, brother of the president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, spoke with Confidential on Sunday, June 9, 2024, three weeks after being under house arrest after having criticized his brother and Vice President Rosario Murillo in an interview with the media Infobae.
However, the audio was kept by Confidencial to protect the security of their communications and was published one day after his death, according to Carlos Fernando Chamorro, owner of Confidencial.
“Today, Sunday (June 9, 2024), I have been a political prisoner for three weeks in the house-to-jail regime. All my freedoms were suspended. Likewise to my partner, Angélica (Chavarría). I am prevented from my medical treatment at the Vivian Pellas private hospital. My health condition is very precarious,” says an excerpt from Ortega’s audio.
“The government of President Daniel Ortega has in its hands the immediate solution for my unconditional freedom,” added Humberto Ortega.
Neither the National Police nor the government of President Daniel Ortega responded to the various complaints of the isolation imposed on his brother Humberto Ortega, who died on Monday at the age of 77 from cardiac arrest in the midst of a sociopolitical crisis that Nicaragua is experiencing.
The last criticism of Humberto Ortega
Humberto Ortega played a key role during the transition period in Nicaragua after the Sandinistas lost power in 1990 and the triumph of former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.
Humberto Ortega became one of the main critics of his brother Daniel Ortega.
During the 2018 crisis that left more than 300 dead, according to NGOs and human rights groups, Humberto said that political prisoners were not terrorists as their brother Daniel Ortega accused them, and later after the death in prison of the former guerrilla and Sandinista dissident Hugo Torres, he mentioned that he died “in a cruel confinement.”
Subsequently, Humberto Ortega described Bishop Rolando Álvarez, a critic of President Ortega, as a “serious and brave” person in an interview with CNN.
The last criticism that Humberto Ortega launched against his brother was to Infobae, on May 19, where he said that Nicaragua would have free elections when Daniel Ortega dies. The retired military man went further by saying that after Ortega no one could continue in power.
“Without Daniel I find it very difficult for there to be two or three who get together. Much less one in particular, and more difficult in the family. Children who have not had the accumulation of a political struggle. Not even (dictator Anastasio) Somoza could establish his son,” Humberto Ortega told Infobae.
Humberto Ortega was sentenced to house arrest after the interview and was isolated.
Carlos Fernando Chamorro, from Confidencial, stressed that the audio published in the media was recorded from a cell phone that Humberto Ortega secretly kept in his house, after the Police seized all of his media during a raid on the 19th. of May.
Vice President of Nicaragua asks for “respect”
The Sandinista government keeps the death of retired general Humberto Ortega secret.
On Monday, Vice President Rosario Murillo, the second in command in Nicaragua, transmitted an alleged communication from Humberto Ortega’s children in which they asked for “respect for the privacy and mourning” they were experiencing and read a statement in which she “remembered” her role. during the Sandinista Revolution.
The government did not declare any day of mourning for the death of Humberto Ortega, nor was a public ceremony announced.
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