The wives of the political prisoners Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Félix Maradiaga and the daughter of Juan Lorenzo Holman denounced, together with the international human rights lawyer, Jared Genser, the precarious conditions in which their relatives live inside the El Chipote prison, which have already affected their physical and mental health, causing great weight loss and medical conditions that are not taken care of.
“All the more than 190 politicians present a great physical deterioration. There is a general lack of medical care. Their mental health is also affected by the lack of reading and writing material and the isolation in which some find themselves for more than a year,” said Renata Holmann, daughter of Juan Lorenzo Holmann.
In the press conference that Berta Valle and Victoria Cardenas also attended, they took the opportunity to present the spoken portraits of their relatives that show a visible deterioration in their physical condition. These are being shared as part of a Be Human initiative campaign.
The spoken portrait of Maradiaga was disclosed for the first time on July 1 and in response to the evident physical deterioration, Daniel Ortega’s regime disclosed for the first time, after a year of confinement, photographs and videos of him at the sentencing reading . The official propaganda tried to use these resources to ensure that he is in good health, despite the obvious weight loss.
Lawyer Jared Genser, who moderated the press conference, denounced that the treatment received by political prisoners in Nicaragua is one of the worst he has seen in his professional practice of more than 20 years.
“They seek to dehumanize and wear them down”
Juan Lorenzo Holmann’s daughter described that dad’s health has deteriorated. On the first visit that her sister made, she found out that he had a stomach infection, this condition worsened and they had to administer intravenous fluids.
He is currently in an unventilated cell and in the time he has been in detention he has developed an abdominal hernia, fungus on his upper and lower limbs, and a blemish in his vision.
“Since January 2022, my father has been in a punishment cell, bolted two by two meters, without ventilation, very little light and with mold on the walls, conditions that put his health at risk, which was delicate before he died. his arrest,” said Renata Holmann.
The daughter of the general manager of La Prensa, who was arrested on August 14, 2021, adds that “they are killing them little by little day by day, the dictatorship seeks to completely dehumanize and wear them down.”
For her part, Victoria Cárdenas, wife of Juan Sebastián Chamorrro, denounced that in El Chipote the political prisoners do not receive timely medical attention and the precarious conditions in which they are placed put their lives at risk.
“He is not the Juan that I have known for the last 31 years of my life, but an extremely thin, fragile and deteriorated version of my husband (…) This puts their lives at risk every minute of the day, with that thought we go to bed and we got up as family,” he assured.
They ask to open prisons to verify conditions
Cárdenas demanded that the State open the prisons and end the confinement and solitary confinement in which the more than 190 political prisoners are held, “as is the case of Juan Sebastián Chamorro, whose only crime was fighting for democracy in Nicaragua,” he said.
Valle, wife of Félix Maradiaga, reiterated her concern for the situation of all political prisoners, in particular for her husband, who has heart problems and has already requested 60 pounds of weight.
“I want to raise my voice again so that they help us to stop this level of cruelty and torture of political prisoners, not only in El Chipote, but the same is experienced every day in the other prison systems of the country,” he assured.
It is expected that in the next few days the caravan “International Commission for the Life and Freedom of Political Prisoners” will reach the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, made up of parliamentarians from different countries, human rights organizations, exiled relatives of political prisoners , who seek to enter El Chipote to verify the status of the political prisoners.
