Dictator Daniel Ortega viciously attacked Chile’s president Gabriel Boric, from the democratic left, and Brian Nichols, undersecretary of the United States, calling them “lapdogs” because both have demanded the freedom of Nicaragua’s political prisoners in forums international.
Ortega described as “terrorists” more than 200 political prisoners that he keeps in jail under a regime of torture and isolation, and said that there is a government that goes out there as a “lapdog”, wanting to receive applause from the US empire and from some governments. Europeans, referring to President Boric, whom he pointed out to keep a number of political prisoners in Chile. Those detainees, according to him, are young people who were protesting in the streets looking for a profound change in the system.
“There is a state of siege in the areas where the Mapuche indigenous communities are found. There are prisoners, and then, with what authority does he start talking about us releasing political prisoners in Nicaragua? He came to the Presidency and has not been able to, or has not wanted to, because he is dominated by the Pinochet tyranny. There is no democracy there,” he maintained.
The ruler was more rude when he referred to the representative of the State Department. “They have made him bark. He barks against Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, that is what they have put the poor black man in, —as if he was well chosen— he has the face of a bulldog, barking”, he insulted.
The dictator participated in the act of the 43rd anniversary of the Police, which he praised for the execution of the brutal repression during the civic protests of 2018. He was accompanied, presiding over the act, by his wife and Vice President Rosario Murillo, the head of the Army Julio César Avilés, Police Director Francisco Díaz, Deputy Director Ramón Avellán—accused of committing crimes against humanity— and Commissioner General Adolfo Marenco, the institution’s intelligence chief, usually in the shadows.
The state repression, ordered by Ortega, left 355 dead in 2018, thousands injured, more than 1,300 arbitrary arrests, and hundreds of thousands exiled, according to international human rights organizations, but Ortega and his clan continue to justify their human rights violations by accusing without evidence to the demonstrators of having promoted “a coup d’état”.
Also against the Catholic Church and the UN
Ortega attacked the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, whom he accused of being a “puppet of the Yankees, they go from here to there.” These words were the response of the Nicaraguan regime, after, on September 13, 45 countries in the UN They condemned Ortega for repression and again demanded the freedom of prisoners of conscience.
The leader defended North Korea and complained that there would be a scandal if “our brother Kim Jong-un carries out a nuclear test.”
The dictator also attacked the Catholic Church, while keeping silent about the forced confinement suffered by the Bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Alvarez, at his residence in Managua, falsely accused by the Police of “organizing violent groups.” He did not say anything about the irregular judicial processes that have allowed the imprisonment of three priests, and that of other religious and laity who accompanied Bishop Álvarez, while he was besieged by the Police between August 4 and 19.
“Since when do they have the authority to talk about democracy? Who chooses the priests, who chooses the bishops, the Pope? It is a perfect dictatorship, a perfect tyranny,” Ortega argued, accusing the religious of being “coup plotters.” .
Priests and bishops advocated respect for the human rights of citizens in 2018, which irritated the Sandinista government. This Wednesday, Ortega even said that some bishops asked him to be assassinated during the crisis, without mentioning specific names.
“They came out of the churches armed to launch attacks against police barracks. And some priests, bishops, calling people to put lead in me, what were they waiting for to kill me, look what kinds of bishops and priests, they said it calmly. Eh, say a gang of assassins, undercover with the Catholic Church”, he stated.
Ortega did not say anything about the persecution against the Catholic Church that has caused dozens of exiled religious, among them the auxiliary bishop of Managua, Silvio Báez, since 2019 at the guidance of Pope Francis, faced with the threat then of FSLN fanatics, he rejected the lies of the tyrant
“How much ignorance, how much lies and how much cynicism!” Said the bishop on his Twitter account and lamented that Ortega was trying to teach democracy.
How much ignorance, how much lies and how much cynicism! A dictator giving lessons on democracy; someone who illegitimately exercises power, criticizing the authority that Jesus gave his Church; someone who is an atheist, lamenting that he does not feel represented by the Church.
– Silvio José Báez (@silviojbaez) September 29, 2022
In his hate speech, the dictator did not refer to the hunger strikes held by political prisoners in jail, to demand an end to torture, nor to the banishment orders, executed by the Ministry of the Interior that have affected dozens of citizens. He also did not mention anything about the de facto expulsion of the Ambassador of the European Union, Bettina Muscheidt, whose declaration of non grata began to provoke condemnation at the international level. Surrounded by police, and accompanied by the military leadership, the caudillo decided to continue exercising force to stay in power.
Díaz repeats party speech
Police Director Francisco Díaz, the presidential couple’s in-law, swore loyalty and obedience to Ortega and Murillo, while warning that peace is not to be played with, later repeating the official slogan of “they couldn’t and won’t.”
Ortega stressed that the Police and the Army are “instruments to guarantee the lives of Nicaraguans,” after an act in which he promoted nine officers to the rank of general commissioners and promised to strengthen the institution.
He also posthumously promoted 22 officers who died during the repressive days of 2018, regardless of whether they were captains or inspectors at the time of their death. When reading the presidential order, Murillo highlighted in this case that they recognized in them the “heroic act and struggle with breath of life and hope, to the last blood of holy blood of our police brothers.”
The Ortega-Murillo regime celebrated the anniversary of the police institution 23 days after the official date this Wednesday, September 28, when it was four years since the forcible imposition of a de facto exceptional regime that annulled the exercise of freedoms democratic, a police state in which the security forces play a fundamental role, together with the paramilitaries.
In this way, the State violated civil rights in the country, including those of assembly and mobilization, and also placed under surveillance all those that police intelligence considered a threat, including politicians, journalists or any member of civil society. .
However, Díaz highlighted what he considers the institution’s “achievements” in the area of public security, such as the rate of seven homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the lowest in the region.
The police director also reported the seizure of 4.6 tons of cocaine and the seizure of 8.5 million dollars. According to the annual report of the Police for the year 2021, the seizure of that year was 6.7 million dollars, which means that there was an increase of almost two million dollars.
