The women imprisoned for political reasons in Nicaragua, who add up to 14 of the 169 considered “political prisoners” by humanitarian organizations, “have been the object of greater cruelty,” the NGO Autonomous Women’s Movement denounced on Monday.
“Such is the case of Tamara Dávila, who has been subjected to total isolation for nine months in a ‘bolted’ or totally sealed cell, without having contact with anyone, other than her jailers,” said Violeta Delgado, of the Autonomous Movement of Women.
Delgado spoke at a public hearing of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), held at the request of eight organizations, in which the State of Nicaragua was absent.
According to the women’s defender, Dávila, who is a leader of the opposition Blue and White National Unit and sentenced to 8 years in prison for crimes considered treason, has been “subjected to daily interrogations in which, due to her actions , they are blamed for the alleged abandonment of care work that is socially linked to gender”.
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Delgado also mentioned the case of opposition leader Violeta Granera, who is “an elderly woman (70 years old) and whose family has expressed concern about the serious deterioration of her health, including the loss of teeth, which prevents her from eating.”
Ex-guerrillera is confined with men
There is also the case of the former Sandinista dissident guerrilla Dora María Téllez, 66, “held in the area intended for men as a way of disrespecting her gender condition.”
Téllez, a historic Sandinista combatant and former fighting partner of President Daniel Ortega, has been in prison since June 13, 2021 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison for treason.
The leader of the Autonomous Women’s Movement also referred to the demand of the mother of Ana Margarita Vijil, another of the detainees who has requested “prisoners be allowed a coat”, without success yet.
Or that of human rights defender Eveling Pinto, 63, “who is a cancer survivor, with sequelae of kidney failure,” and does not have access to all the medicine she needs, she said.
The case of minor children
Likewise, Delgado denounced that “underage sons and daughters, some boys and girls, have been restricted from any contact with their fathers and mothers, including letters or drawings, this being a serious act of violence against them and a serious threat. to its development”.
The activist noted that of the 169 people imprisoned since the popular revolt that broke out in April 2018, the youngest is Samanta Padilla Jirón, 22 years old, and Granera the oldest, 70 years old.
Both Granera and Nidia Barboza, 66, suffer from “pre-existing illnesses that developed during their incarceration,” according to the Autonomous Women’s Movement, which warned the IACHR “that the conditions of detention of persons deprived of their liberty for reasons Policies continue to be far from inter-American standards and constitute cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, as well as physical and psychological torture against them.”
In the hearing, which was held virtually, the human rights situation was analyzed “in the context of impunity in Nicaragua, and the need to adopt extraordinary verification and accountability mechanisms.”
Nicaragua has been going through a political and social crisis since April 2018, which has been accentuated after the controversial general elections on November 7, in which Ortega was re-elected for a fifth term, fourth consecutive and second along with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president, with her main contenders in prison.
