The investigation of the regime, for alleged embezzlement of funds, against the Sandinista mayor of Rivas, Wilfredo López Hernándezhas more of a “partisan political background” than a fight against corruption, according to sources from the municipality and the Sandinista Front party.
Sources indicated to CONFIDENTIAL that Mayor López is in the middle of “a move” to remove him from power. Behind the “maneuver” are the departmental political secretary, Alejandro Vado; the FSLN deputy, Miguel Carballo; and those chosen as candidates for mayor and vice mayor of Rivas, Raimundo Membreño and Rogelia Santana, respectively.
The official version, however, is that Mayor López is being investigated for having signed a check for $10,000, which does not appear and has to be returned. “The strange thing,” said one of the sources, is that the “investigation” is directed by the secretary general of the FSLN, Fidel Moreno, and the new head of the Ministry of Agriculture (MAG), Isidro Rivera.
The source indicated that, since last February, the Rivas mayor’s office was intervened by the Municipal Development Institute (Inifom) and Mayor López remained as a “decorative figure”, thanks to the fact that Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, “They appreciate him for the friendship they had with his father (of the same name) now deceased.”
A source linked to the FSLN affirmed that López is being investigated, presumably, for being part of a plot with local judges, in which they made purchases of land for the Bismarck Martínez housing project, from which they would have benefited financially.
Appointment of judge
The “plot” to which the source refers began in 2022 with the appointment of the civil district judge of Rivas, Janet Ortega Villalta, by the magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ), Ileana Pérez.
At the beginning of this June, Judge Ortega Villalta was dismissed from her post and is now being investigated allegedly for having made a false declaration of heirs, for a sale of land to the mayor of Rivas, for the Bismark Martínez housing project. From which the mayor would have benefited.
According to the source, the dismissed judge was taken to El Chipote, as was the mayor’s former legal adviser, lawyer Carlos Molina.
The sources also indicate that López is being held in the Rivas police station, but the regime is negotiating with his wife to return or pay the missing $10,000 from the mayor’s office.
The home of López, a local FSLN leader who supported enthusiasm for the project of the failed interoceanic canal in 2014, was raided by the Police on Saturday, June 25. The agents seized two trucks and a Honda brand car, as well as a large amount of money that exceeds 30,000 dollars.
