On the eve of the voting this Sunday, November 7 – in which Daniel Ortega is going for his fourth consecutive presidential term after canceling the political competition, along with his wife, vice president and spokesperson, Rosario Murillo – the persecution against opponents of the ruling Frente The Sandinista increased in Managua and several cities in Nicaragua, with several detainees in the last hours, according to complaints from the opposition Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy and the Blue and White National Unity.
Some reports mention up to a dozen detainees, among whom have been identified Nidia Barboza, from the Civic Alliance, in Masaya; Muammar Vado, from the Unamos party; Esterlin Soriano González, from San Juan de Cinco Pinos, in Chinandega, and Yoel Sandino Ibarra, in Managua.
Since the afternoon of this Friday, in the streets of the capital, a greater police presence was observed and the number of agents increased even more on Saturday afternoon. Also, the homes of critical citizens have been “besieged” and “raided more frequently” by officers of the National Police, who argue: “avoid attempts against peace.”
Since Tuesday, a team of CONFIDENTIAL He toured the main roundabouts, shopping centers and universities in the capital, where he found a strong police force, especially in the areas that, during the April 2018 Rebellion, were concentration points for protesters.
In 22 points in Managua, between Tuesday and Wednesday, the regime has deployed more than a hundred policemen, including anti-riot, line and traffic agents. The number doubled between Friday and Saturday. Most of the officers are located inside and outside the Metrocentro shopping center, in front of the facilities of the Central American University, around the Hugo Chávez roundabout, in the Cristo Rey roundabout, the headquarters of the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) and in outside the Pellas Business Group building.
Other areas that are also constantly monitored, although with fewer agents, are: Camino de Oriente square, Jean Paul Genie roundabout, La Virgen roundabout, El Periodista roundabout, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Holiday Inn hotel, LaFise Centroamérica building. and the Rubenia roundabout.
Political violence increases in October
Olga Valle, a researcher for the Oenegé Urnas Abiertas, details that, since the end of last September, they have known of the “permanent and constant siege on the outskirts of the houses of opponents, mainly executed by police, with the participation of parastatal agents, state workers and supporters of the Sandinista Front ”.
According to data from the Observatory of Political Violence, which Urnas Abiertas develops in collaboration with the Blue and White Monitoring, from October 2020 to October 31, 2021, 1,654 acts of political violence have been registered.
In the 31 days of last October, according to Valle, 120 acts of political violence occurred throughout the country. Of these, 38 were harassment on the outskirts of the houses; 36 cruel treatment against detainees in the cells of the Directorate of Judicial Aid, known as “the new Chipote.”
In addition, he adds that they have a record of 17 threats against opponents who have been detained or summoned at police stations, where they are warned to “stop calling for non-voting” or they will be imprisoned.
They also count 12 arrests and eight assaults, including raids. “Most of the aggressions have been directed at organized people, members of either political parties whose legal status was canceled, or political organizations, but we have also seen that political violence begins to be generated against citizens in general”, Valley stresses.
Police steal money from peasant
One of the most recent cases of search and detention occurred on November 2 against the farmer Cándido Sánchez López, 60 years old and head of the Citizens for Freedom (CxL) party in San Carlos, Río San Juan. This organization, the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) dominated by the regime, canceled its political status on August 6.
Sánchez was detained by ten police officers – dressed in civilian clothes and wearing ski masks – who raided his home and stole 12,000 cordobas from the sale of a cow, according to family accounts.
The police officers justified the theft of the money on the grounds that “(the cash) was the product of what, (supposedly), they sent Sánchez to agitate people against the Government.”
Sánchez’s relatives also denounce that, in the police delegation, they were told that Sánchez is accused of “illegally carrying weapons”, despite the fact that during the search they did not find a single weapon inside the house and not in the hands of the citizen.
Persecution for campaign that promotes “no vote”
On October 29, in Managua and Río San Juan, the homes of opponents Allán Gómez and Elvis Chamorro, the Union of Political Prisoners of Nicaragua (UPPN) and the Nicaraguan University Alliance (AUN), respectively, were raided by Police officers, who warned that these operations will continue throughout the country, since they pretend that “there is no attempt against peace.”
In Chamorro’s home, where three small cafeteria, lounge, and store businesses operate, the raid occurred at around 10:30 a.m., when only the opponent’s sister was present, along with ten workers, who were intimidated and threatened by a dozen uniformed and plainclothes police officers, who demanded that they not be recorded.
“A plainclothes policeman, who identified himself as the intelligence chief, entered my family’s business and said that he had an order, not a written one, but that he did have authorization and the power to enter the house, the business, or wherever he did. I would like, ”says Chamorro, who at the time of the raid was outside of San Carlos, on some personal errands.
The opponent, departmental coordinator of AUN in Río San Juan, explains that the raid lasted approximately one hour and that the agents did not steal anything from the property, although he emphasizes that they left a document stating that “they did not find anything, nor posters that said something on ‘No Vote’ ”.
“During the raid, the policemen repeated many times about the ‘No Vote’ campaign, and what the opponents at the departmental level may be doing with that campaign,” highlights Chamorro.
Police warn a week of “operations”
In Managua, the raid on Gómez’s home occurred in the afternoon. The university student explains that more than 25 policemen, in uniform and plainclothes, surrounded his home and entered without showing a court order.
“They arrived in about four patrol cars, two trucks and about eight motorcycles, people came with plain clothes. They all carried weapons, they surrounded the block and my home and told my mother that they should search the house, because they had complaints that weapons were hidden here, ”says the young man.
Gómez was requisitioned, photographed and isolated from his family by four police officers, who, in addition to continually asking for his personal information, warned him to “behave well, to take care of yourself, to stop doing things that you didn’t have to do.” .
“They told us that we were forbidden to record or make calls, just as the neighbors were not allowed to record or call, they took their cell phones and returned them until the illegal raid ended,” he says.
In addition, they warned him that they will be “in operation to prevent an attempt against the peace.”
