Residents of Estelí called on the Nicaraguan Army to explain why they allow government paramilitaries to operate so freely in this department. «They display their weapons like it’s from the old west. It seems that in this country there are no laws, there is no institution called the Army»says an annoyed Estelian.
Of course, complaints like this are not possible if it is not under a confidential identity. There is no one who has not seen Víctor Manuel Gallegos, alias «Pedro the Honduran»now turned into a paramilitary of the Daniel Ortega regime, walk through the streets of the city as if it were «of a little general» armed and escorted.
On July 21, 1993, Gallegos led a commando of ex-combatants and ex-military members of the then Sandinista Popular Army (EPS) to assault several banks in the city of Estelí where they stole more than 5 million dollars. He is now a paramilitary chief «to which they fit» also even police commissioners of the regime. Gallegos heads a group of 86 paramilitaries from a block that calls itself «North Front Carlos Fonseca Amador».
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«What does the Army say about this?»asked a retired soldier from the area who disagrees with the bad reputation given to the Ortega party in which he has been a member for almost all his life. «I am a Sandinista, I have always been, and that was not Carlos Fonseca’s dream, they look more like a group of mercenaries, criminals»critical.
With barracks and everything
The group has a place they call «operations headquarters»which is one of the houses in the old Colonia Meneses, where the departmental offices of the Ministry of the Interior (Mingo) still operate in Estelí, and where they store weapons of all calibers. «They live there, publicly maintaining them, and they also gather to patrol at night and early in the morning through the different neighborhoods of the Estelian city. What’s that ? And the Police is not for that?»another Estelian wonders.
This group of paramilitaries, like others that operate in the city of Somoto, head of the department of Madriz, and some municipalities, including the city of Ocotal, in the department of Nueva Segovia, have the support of the commanders of the Ortega Police (PO) of Las Segovias.
In addition, citizens criticize the use of economic resources that come from the Sandinista mayors’ offices and various State institutions that provide them with trucks, fuel and raincoats to protect themselves from the rain, food rations, medical kits and even military boots.
He «North Front Carlos Fonseca Amador» in Las Segovias is made up of more than 360 former soldiers of the then EPS (Sandinista Popular Army), cubs of the then Patriotic Military Service (SMP) and former members of the reservist battalions that operated in the 80s, in the armed civil war.
From guerrillas to paramilitaries
Also, it is made up of historical ex-combatants of the Sandinista Popular Revolution who fought in the territory to put an end to the dictatorship of the Somoza family. These paramilitary commandos emerged during the popular uprising against the regime of the presidential couple of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in April 2018.
On that occasion, the paramilitary groups were recruited by old militants, FSLN political operators, among them the late guerrilla Edén Pastora Gómez, Comandante Cero, and they could be seen in the photos and videos they posted on social networks (Facebook , Telegram and WhatsApp) carrying heavy-caliber war rifles such as AKs, 50-caliber machine guns and RPG 7 mortar launchers, exclusive equipment of the Nicaraguan Army (EN).
The paramilitaries carried out operations typical of the military forces and attacked the roadblocks of the demonstrators who rebelled against the regime five years ago. They are responsible for the death of 355 opponents according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, IACHR.
Other members of the «North Front Carlos Fonseca Amador» they operate strongly in areas of the department of Nueva Segovia, mainly in the municipalities of Jalapa, Mozonte, Ciudad Antigua, San Fernando, Santa María and the city of Ocotal, places where they occupy properties confiscated from known opponents of the Ortega Murillo regime.
They also have businesses and operate taxis, just like in the city of Estelí. They protect farms and businesses such as mining and logging companies from their main leaders or senior officials of the Sandinista government. «Information is requested from the security guards of state schools or government institutions and they travel in white or gray vans used by the State but that are not labeled, such as some of the Somoto hospital and the SILAIS of Madriz»said a source familiar with these operations.
By: United Voices.
