The year 2021, in Nicaragua, was marked by the ravages of the second wave of infections and deaths from covid-19; the upsurge in police harassment and imprisonment of opposition leaders; illegal raids by independent media outlets; and the realization of an electoral farce with which Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo were awarded one more period in power.
Despite the fact that independent doctors persisted with the warning to maintain social distancing, the Government insisted on the face-to-face modality in public schools and carried out hundreds of massive activities amid a global alert for the Delta variant, which is three times more contagious than the original virus. In a matter of months, infections and deaths increased due to covid-19.
Likewise, in the midst of the health crisis due to the coronavirus, the Ministry of Health (Minsa) inaugurated maternity homes, a diabetes center and a care center for people with addiction to alcoholism and drug addiction, in the buildings confiscated in 2018 from the media of CONFIDENTIAL communication and This Week, 100% News and Cenidh.
Harassment against the independent press also increased. The National Police raided and confiscated the provisional study of CONFIDENCIAL and Esta Semana, and the newspaper La Prensa, and also summoned and questioned media directors and journalists at the Prosecutor’s Office for an investigation of alleged money laundering against the Foundation Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.
In this year, when presidential elections were held, Ortega prepared the conditions for his third consecutive reelection: he used a combo of punitive laws to imprison the main opposition candidates, and he canceled the legal status of the two political parties that would serve as electoral vehicles. of the opposition.
Between May and the end of November 2021, the regime added 67 new prisoners of conscience, including seven candidates for the presidency. Prior to these arrests, at least 100 political prisoners were already waiting in jails.
Among those arrested are the presidential candidates Cristiana Chamorro Barrios, Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Félix Maradiaga, Arturo Cruz, Miguel Mora, Medardo Mairena and Noel Vidaurre. In addition to student leaders, journalists, political activists, businessmen and former diplomats.
With the increase in repression and selective captures, at least 35,000 Nicaraguans have requested refuge in neighboring Costa Rica since June, according to Ana Quirós, an activist and human rights defender.
For more than 20 days, some 400 Nicaraguans were stranded on the Panamanian border, due to the restriction of passage through Costa Rica. The compatriots were trying to return to Nicaragua because they were left unemployed due to the closure of several companies due to the covid-19 pandemic in Panama. // Photo: A group of Nicaraguans lying on the ground waiting for Panama and Costa Rica to set up a humanitarian bridge. January 22 | Courtesy | Confidential
Although the warning of the medical union about a second outbreak of covid-19 in Nicaragua, the Ministry of Education began the 2021 school year in person, with an enrollment of close to 1.8 million students in the public system. For the most part, the classrooms had lists of 50 to 60 students. // Photo: Public Institute September 14 at the opening ceremony of the school year. one february | Confidential
Two and a half years after the occupation manu militari of CONFIDENCIAL, the 100% Noticias channel, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh), the Institute for Development and Democracy (Ipade), the Center for Information and Health Advisory Services (Cisas) and the Popol Na Foundation, the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, through the Ministry of Health, installed and inaugurated maternity homes, a diabetes center, and a care center for people with alcoholism and drug addiction in the confiscated buildings. // Photo: A special forces officer monitors and controls access to the building confiscated from the Confidencial and Esta Semana communication media. February 24 | Confidential
The Police of the Ortega regime raided for the second time the recording studio of the programs Esta Semana and Esta Noche – directed by journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro -, which had been temporarily installed in a small space in the Invercasa corporate center, after the assault and confiscation of the editorial staff of CONFIDENCIAL, in December 2018. A member of the team of This week and CONFIDENTIAL, the cameraman Leonel Gutiérrez, (RIP) was illegally detained and interrogated for more than seven hours. // Photo: Ortega Police officers remove computers and other equipment from the recording studio of Esta Semana and Esta Noche. May 20th | Confidential
Dozens of journalists and media directors were summoned by the Prosecutor’s Office for an investigation of alleged money laundering against the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation. // Photo: The journalist María Lilly Delgado, correspondent for Univisión, along with former workers of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro foundation upon leaving the Attorney General’s Office. May 24 | Confidential
Since the end of May, the Ortega regime used a combo of punitive laws to incarcerate the seven main opposition candidates. Among those arrested are: Cristiana Chamorro Barrios, Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Félix Maradiaga, Arturo Cruz, Miguel Mora, Medardo Mairena and Noel Vidaurre.
With seven presidential candidates imprisoned, of which five were registered in the mechanism of the Alianza Ciudadanos la Libertad (ACxL), the Citizens for Freedom (CxL) party registered its Presidential formula: the former head of the Contra, Óscar Sobalvarro, and the former Miss Nicaragua 2017, Berenice Quezada.
The Prosecutor’s Office accused Quezada of “promoting and inciting hatred and violence.” From CxL, the Electoral Tribunal took away its legal personality; and already without party, Sobalvarro withdrew from the contest. // Photo: Berenice Quezada with Óscar Sobalvarro during their registration as CxL candidates. July 28 | Confidential
On August 12, the newspaper La Prensa published its last printed edition because it ran out of paper to continue circulating at the national level because the General Directorate of Customs (DGA) withheld the paper and other raw materials. // Photo: A spokeswoman sells the last printed copy of the newspaper La Prensa at a traffic light in Managua | Confidential
A day later, the National Police seized the facilities of the newspaper La Prensa, due to an investigation against Editorial La Prensa and its directors, for the alleged crimes of “customs fraud, money laundering, goods and assets, to the detriment of the State of Nicaragua and Nicaraguan society ”. It also arrested Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro, general manager.// Photo: A group of policemen closes the gates of the newspaper La Prensa to prevent coverage by the independent media. August 13 | Confidential
The Ministry of Health (Minsa) began in March the application of the first dose of Covidshield vaccine for those over 50 and chronic patients; however, there were few authorized health centers. Long hours of waiting and crowds were the result of this day. // Photo: Older adults wait their turn to get vaccinated at the Francisco Buitrago health center. March 22 | Confidential
From the day before the vaccination day for people over 30 began, citizens lined up outside the hospitals enduring the inclement sun. // Photo: Kilometric lines outside the Manolo Morales Hospital to get the AstraZeneca vaccine. September 20 | Confidential
The Government of Honduras began a vaccination campaign to apply the first dose of Pfizer and Moderna to Nicaraguans at the different border points. Thousands of citizens, mostly young, made long lines for several hours to apply the vaccine, while the Minsa announced that it would apply doses of Sputnik light and Sovereign to young people. //Photo: Nicas queue up at the San Marcos de Colón border post, in Honduras, to get a covid-19 vaccine. | Courtesy
Between August and September, there was an increase in deaths and infections due to covid. 19. According to doctors, this second wave was more lethal than the first, which occurred between May and July 2020.// Photo: A group of gravediggers wearing biosecurity suits carry out a COVID burial in the Sierras de Paz cemetery at the beginning of September. | Confidential
On November 7, the general elections were held in Nicaragua, under a massive abstentionism and carried by Sandinista militants. Ortega’s third consecutive reelection took place in a context of political persecution, as the main opposition candidates were imprisoned and opposition political parties were canceled. // Photo: A citizen exercises her right to vote at the receiving board of the Autonomous College of Esquipulas | Confidential
In the act of celebration for his fourth consecutive presidential term, Daniel Ortega dedicated a long speech on the national chain to attack the international community, for condemning and ignoring the voting process on Sunday, November 7. In addition, he attacked the hierarchy of the Catholic Church and called the political prisoners “sons of bitches of the imperialists.” // Photo: Daniel Ortega danced the “Commander stays” after his most virulent speech against political prisoners. November 8 | Photography: Taken from the presidency | Confidential
The brothers Laureano and Rafael Ortega Murillo, sons of the ruling couple, met with a representation of the Government of the People’s Republic of China, with the purpose of reestablishing diplomatic relations. Hours earlier, in Nicaragua, Foreign Minister Denis Moncada announced the severance of Nicaraguan diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the most generous of bilateral donors. // Photo: Laureano Ortega signed the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with China. December 10 | Taken from the presidency | Confidential
The General Assembly of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of American States (OAS) approved a resolution that declared the voting on November 7 in Nicaragua “without legitimacy”. The text had the support of 25 countries, out of a total of 34.View of OAS officials during the General Assembly of the organization. Photo: Washington, November 12. | Taken from the official site of the OAS | Confidential
