After fifty days of solitary confinement, finally The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo authorized that the political prisoners —detained between June and November 2021— who are imprisoned in the cells of El Chipote, have a sixth visit from their relatives. The new meetings began on March 17 and for two hours their relatives were able to verify a possible outbreak of coronavirus in prison and the continuity of torture against prisoners of conscience.
Relatives of political prisoner Irving Larios denounced that their relative could have been infected with covid-19 during the reading of the sentence, on March 8, but the authorities of the El Chipote prison never informed them about what happened. It was until this March 19, that they were allowed to visit him, when they learned of the delicate health situation of the prisoner of conscience.
During the six days after the sentence was read, Larios presented all the symptoms of the covid-19 disease, was isolated from the other inmates and was treated with: ivermectin and colchicine, two drugs used by the Ministry of Health (Minsa) to treat the coronavirus. However, the doctor who treated him did not tell him what illness he had.
“To this day he (Larios) is fine, but he says that those six days were terrible, there were even two days that he couldn’t even eat because his throat was so burning that he couldn’t swallow, he reached a saturation (of oxygen) of 87”, related the relative of the political prisoner.
Larios also continues to lose weight, to the point that “right now he weighs 133 pounds, when his weight was normally around 165,” his relative commented. In addition, he suffers from high blood pressure and endures cold at night, because the prison authorities do not allow him to have any blankets.
Larios’ relatives also commented that they saw him emotionally well and pointed out that the prisoner of conscience asked them to continue demanding the release of the more than 170 political prisoners.
The prisoners of conscience who remain locked up in El Chipote do not have regular visits, the last ones were at the end of last January. Civil society organizations have denounced that the regime does not comply with the law, since in article 130 of the regulations of Law 473, Law of the Penitentiary Regime and Execution of the Sentence, it is established that the frequency of family and conjugal visits for inmates located in the different regimens will be every 21, 14 and eight days.
suspected coronavirus
A case similar to that of Larios occurred with the political prisoner Pedro Vázquez, who during his visit this weekend expressed to his wife, Norma Vega, that was hospitalized —at an unspecified location— for three days. However, the prison authorities never told his family what was happening.
“He told me that he has been in serious condition, that they give him medicine like for the flu,” Vega said. However, she appreciated, “that was not the flu.” Since among the ailments, dizziness and other symptoms, it could be “ómicron in El Chipote”.
Vega recalled that during the trial, held from March 3 to 11, she saw her husband “in a fairly poor health, with a purple arm, dizziness, high blood pressure, pain in the knees” and on one occasion watched it fade While he was being taken to the bathroom, “if the two policemen he was taking to the shore hadn’t grabbed him, he would have fallen to the floor,” he said.
The woman also commented that the political prisoner has lost a lot of weight, has colon problems and suffers from high blood pressure. “What I ask is that they send him home to jail because that is the only way I will be able to take care of him. And I demand his freedom because he is innocent, ”she stressed.
Prostate problems and skin fungus
The relatives of the general manager of the newspaper La Prensa and current political prisoner, John Lawrence Holmanreported that during their visit —on March 19— they noticed that their relative had a lump in his abdomen, pain in his groin and fungus on his hands and feet.
These new ailments are added to the illnesses that Holmann has developed in prison, such as: a dark spot in his right eye, dehydration and generalized weakness. In addition to the heart problems that he suffered from before being imprisoned.
Holmann would also have told his relatives that in the cell, which he shares with the journalist Miguel Mendoza, he can barely move and the place is full of mold. Situation that has caused fungus on their skin, despite the fact that both try to clean the walls with chlorine and the toilet swab.
The political trial against Holmann is scheduled for this Monday at 8:00 am, and like the other political prisoners, he will be tried in a room at the El Chipote prison.
partial loss of sight
The former president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep) and current political prisoner of the regime, José Adán Aguerri, also suffers from serious health problems. During this weekend’s visit, his relatives verified that he experiences partial loss of sight in his left eye, otitis and permanent migraines.
The Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy (ACJD), an organization to which Aguerri belongs, urged specialized medical attention for the prisoner of conscience, since the precarious conditions in which he is confined have contributed to his physical deterioration.
“We demand respect for the human dignity of José Adán,” warned the ACJD on its Twitter account. Currently this political prisoner “weighs 135 pounds and has a fungus on his back and chest,” added the political organization to which Aguerri belonged.
Heart pain and uric acid symptoms
The state of health of the sports writer and current political prisoner, miguel mendoza, is also delicate. His wife, Margin Pozo, reported that, during the time that has elapsed since the last visit, her relative has suffered heart pain and uric acid symptoms that make it impossible for her to walk.
“He (Mendoza) has asked for a pillow to enter because he has a lot of pain in his neck and back, but this has been denied,” Pozo warned. “He has also presented small pains in the heart and that to us, as a family, we are very concerned because, with this heat and being locked up, he could give him something worse,” he lamented.
Mendoza is currently weighing 150 pounds and “when he arrived at El Chipote he weighed 183,” said the wife of the prisoner of conscience. He also “has presented symptoms of uric acid and it is concentrated in his ankles. He told me that he couldn’t walk about a month ago because his foot hurt a lot, ”she added.
Pozo also assured that the prisoner of conscience continues to be interrogated despite the fact that he was already sentenced in a mock trial. “We thought that this was going to be over, but they continue to interrogate him constantly. He is still in a punishment cell in critical conditions, with little light and a lot of heat, imagine in this time we are in, ”he stressed.
Interrogations continue
The family of the peasant leader and presidential candidate, Medardo Mairena, confirmed that on March 18 they were able to see him in the El Chipote prison, where —they affirm— continues to be mistreated and being constantly interrogated despite the fact that he was already convicted in a spurious trial.
“We cannot stop denouncing the continuity of the interrogations, the little access to the sun and the continuous weight loss of our brother, who to date has lost a total of 61 pounds,” said the family of political prisoner Medardo Mairena. .
Similarly, Ana Lucía Álvarez, sister and niece of the political prisoners, Tamara Dávila and Ana Margarita Vijil, denounced that in El Chipote they continue to interrogate their relatives and applying different types of torture.
“The isolation continues,” Álvarez warned. “In the case of Tamara, it is extreme isolation since she is in a completely closed cell after more than nine months” and Ana Margarita, “is alone and with a series of measures that prevent her from communicating with people who are in cells. close to yours,” he explained.
For Álvarez, the prolonged isolation of political prisoners constitutes “aggravated torture” and he warned — like other family members — that he is “aware that there are outbreaks of covid-19 in El Chipote” and that “there are sick people at this time.”
Demand transfer to prison
César Dubois, husband of the former president of Unamos and current political prisoner, Suyen Barahonaclaimed the lack of periodicity of the visits in El Chipote and requested that, now that her relative has been convicted in a political trial, she should be transferred to a prison, but lThe authorities continue without informing them how the “supposed fulfillment” of the sentence will be.
Dubois, toIn addition, he reiterated that the first demand they have as a family is the “immediate freedom of the more than 170 political prisoners, not only those from Chipote, but those who are in other prisons in the country, because they are all innocent, they all have to be free.” ”.
Meanwhile, “visits should be much more frequent, as established by law. We shouldn’t have to wait 50 days to be able to see her and find out how she’s doing,” Dubois claimed. In addition, he commented that people who make visits to El Chipote are thoroughly searched, forced to remove their masks and constantly photographed.
He added that parcel delivery has also been used by Chipote officials as a method of pressure on prisoners of conscience, since he learned that when they carry personal hygiene products, requested by their relatives, “they give them weeks after that have been delivered to them, this is being used as a form of blackmail.”
Currently Suyen continues to be questioned daily and still losing weight. Dubois estimated that he weighs 110 pounds, a product of the poor diet he receives.
