Among the 167 political prisoners of the Daniel Ortega regime in Nicaragua, there are 27 who are between 19 and 25 years of age, including two in “la 300”, the group of maximum security cells of the Jorge Navarro National Penitentiary System. from Tipitapa, Managua, known as “La Modelo”.
Thirteen of these prisoners of conscience under the age of 25 are recaptured young people who were imprisoned after the social outbreak of 2018, and to whom the Ortega Prosecutor’s Office has fabricated new crimes. In addition, 21 of the 27 have already been sentenced by official judges to up to fifteen years in prison, according to an analysis of data provided by the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners, consultations with organizations of political prisoners and interviews with their families, which require your freedom.
The Ortega regime has taken away from these 27 young people the possibility of continuing their studies or work and progress. Nor can they share with their loved ones. Family members, national and international human rights organizations and different countries continue to demand their freedom and that of all those imprisoned for political reasons. These are their stories.
The youngest political prisoners in maximum security cells
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Kevin Roberto Solís, 23 years old
He was captured for the second time on February 6, 2020, near the Consulate of Costa Rica, in Managua. He is sentenced to four and a half years for the alleged crime of aggravated robbery, when in fact he was participating in a university protest for the freedom of political prisoners. He has been tortured, and is confined in “la 300”, maximum security cells in “La Modelo”.
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Jorge Junior Marenco Rojas, 21 years old
He is a student and from the age of eleven he dreams of being a professional motorcycle racer. He is the father of a six-year-old boy, a three-year-old girl, and a 15-month-old boy. On June 17, 2020, the Police captured him for the third time at his job, where he made shoes. He is in a maximum security cell, known as “la 300”, in “La Modelo”.
Young people arrested in 2021
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German Lesther Alfaro, 23 years
He is a member of the Nicaraguan University Alliance (AUN). He was captured by the Police, on July 5, 2021, at his mother’s house. In May 2018, during the first attempt at dialogue after the social outbreak of 2018, he yelled “surrender” to Daniel Ortega. The regime accuses him of being a “leader of take and destruction” of universities. He is being held in the cells of the new Directorate of Judicial Aid, where his health has deteriorated. Max Jérez, also a member of AUN and detained the same night, turned 28 last October in the cells of “el nuevo Chipote”.
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Yoel Ibzan Sandino Ibarra, 25 years
He was captured on November 5, 2021, by police agents, while on his way to a gym in the Las Brisas sector, in Managua. According to his relatives, he was arrested for posting on his social networks that any of the seven candidates imprisoned by the regime would defeat Ortega and Murillo in the November 7 vote. He is prosecuted for cybercrimes and is imprisoned in “La Modelo”.
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Yaser Muhamar Vado González, 25 years
He is an expelled student of Language and Literature from UNAN-Managua, a member of Unamos and the opposition Blue and White National Unit. He was arrested on November 6, 2021. The Public Ministry accuses him of “conspiring against national integrity.” It is in “the new Chipote.”
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Samantha Jiron Padilla, 21 years
The Social Communication student is originally from Masaya. In 2018 she went into exile in Costa Rica, and returned to Nicaragua in July 2021. On November 9, she was kidnapped by civilians, near the Hotel Holiday Inn, in Managua, after ending an activity of relatives of political prisoners. She is accused of alleged cybercrimes and of “conspiring” against the State.
Factory of crimes against young political prisoners
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Kevin Antonio Zamora Delgado, 20 years
He was in the fifth year of high school, studying English and playing the piano in the church band he attended in Managua. He was captured on September 10, 2019 and sentenced to four years in prison for allegedly manufacturing artisanal explosives.
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Angel of Jesus Sequeira Zamora, 20 years
He was captured by the Police in his workplace “Vardos y bordados Collado”, on November 29, 2019. They also captured his brother, José Gadiel, 27 years old. In July 2020, both were convicted of alleged crime of organized crime and drug trafficking. They are in “La Modelo”.
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Ezequiel de Jesús González Alvarado, 22 years
He is originally from the “La Poma” region, in Masaya, where he was in his fourth year of high school. Police officers captured him on August 3, 2019 at his home. He was sentenced to six years in prison for alleged possession and possession of weapons and explosive devices.
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Dorling Antonio Montenegro, 22 years
He was captured on November 29, 2020 by police and paramilitaries in Wiwilí, Jinotega. His family has also suffered the murder of four members at the hands of the regime in 2019, including his father, Oliver Montenegro Centeno, who was a well-known opposition leader. He is sentenced to six years in prison for the alleged crimes of attempted murder and illegal possession of weapons. He is being held in the Matagalpa Penitentiary System.
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Oliver Jose Montenegro, 25 years
He is the brother of political prisoner Dorling Montenegro. He was kidnapped by the Ortega police on June 21, 2020, three months later, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the crime of attempted murder. He is detained in the Matagalpa Penitentiary System.
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Jonathan Snyder López Guzmán, 25 years
He is one of the political prisoners who has been in the dictatorship’s prisons for the longest time, according to the records of human rights organizations. The young man from Matagalpa was captured on June 22, 2018.
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Freddy Valdivia Hernández, 19 years old
They arrested him after raiding his home on February 22, 2020, in Jinotega, along with six other people, including relatives and neighbors. He is detained in the Matagalpa Penitentiary System, convicted of alleged arms and drug trafficking.
Young political prisoners recaptured
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Yorling Efraín Robles Carballo, 22 years
He was captured at dawn on August 27, 2020, by police officers who raided his house in Catarina, Masaya. He is being held at “La Modelo”. He participated in the 2018 protests, was detained for nine days in July 2019, and decided to go into exile. Upon returning to the country he was besieged and captured. They accuse him of drug trafficking.
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Jeziel David Chavarría, 23 years
He is originally from Jinotega and a political prisoner from the dictatorship. On September 15, 2020, he was recaptured, accused of the alleged crimes of robbery with violence, cultivation and drug trafficking. He had been released from prison in May 2019.
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Adrián Alexander Martínez Arana, 19 years
He is the youngest of the Martínez Arana brothers, political prisoners of the dictatorship. He was 16 years old when he was captured for the first time with his two brothers in 2018. On March 19, 2020, he was imprisoned again and convicted of terrorism and aggravated robbery. He is being held at “La Modelo”.
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Richard de Jesús Martínez Arana, 21 years old
He and his two brothers, also political prisoners, are originally from Managua. He worked in an automotive paint shop, to support his family. He was recaptured along with his brothers, accused of alleged organized crime, terrorism and robbery.
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Ángel Sebastián Martínez Arana, 24 years
He is the eldest of the Martínez Arana brothers. In 2018 he was arrested for refusing to repress the people along with Adrián and Richard. He is the father of three girls and worked in his uncle’s mechanical workshop. He remains detained at “La Modelo”.
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Marlon Antonio Castellón Ubilla, 20 years
He is the youngest of six siblings. He worked as a grocery delivery man in grocery stores and also ran a caponier. He was first captured on July 9, 2018, when he was 16 years old. In 2019 he was released from prison, but six months later, on March 23, 2020, he was recaptured from his home. He is sentenced to 14 years in prison for alleged robbery with serious injuries. According to the digital medium Article 66, Marlon was released from prison on December 16.
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Steven Moisés Mendoza, 20 years
He is originally from Monimbó, Masaya. He worked making wooden toys together with his wife. He is the father of a 20-month-old girl and a four-year-old boy. In January 2019, he went into exile in Costa Rica. In March 2020, he returned to the country, and was captured nine days later, along with the political prisoner Denis Chavarría Zapata. Both were sentenced to 15 years, for alleged drug trafficking.
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Yerling Uriel Cruz Ortiz, 20 years
They arrested him on April 23, 2020, in San José de Bocay, Jinotega. According to the Police, they found him the cultivation of 42 marijuana plants. He was convicted of drug trafficking and is in the Matagalpa Penitentiary System.
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Misael de Jesús Escorcia Rugama, 21 years
He was recaptured by the Police on May 8, 2021, after they raided his house in Sébaco, Matagalpa. The Prosecutor’s Office accuses him of drug trafficking. His mother passed away in November 2018, while he was incarcerated for the first time. He is in the Matagalpa Penitentiary System.
Captured on September 16, 2020. It is in “La Modelo”. At the request of his family member, no further information about his case is published.
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Gabriel Eliseo Seirse García, 23 years old
He is a political prisoner, recaptured on March 8, 2020. He is from Managua. He is detained in the Jorge Navarro National Penitentiary System, La Modelo.
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Bryan Vladimir Cornejo Rivas, 24 years
He is the father of a seven-year-old boy. In July 2018, he was arrested for the first time. On November 29, 2020, he was captured again by four plainclothes men. In March 2021, he was sentenced to six years in prison for the alleged crime of aggravated robbery. Seven months later, his mother passed away, but the regime denied him the right to say goodbye to her.
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Jean Carlos Ríos López, 24 years old
The young man from Tipitapa was captured on March 4, 2020. He is a political prisoner recaptured. It is in “La Modelo”.
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Moisés Alfredo Leiva Chavarría, 24 years
He was recaptured on September 28, 2019 and sentenced to 22 years in prison in a trial full of irregularities. On January 26, the police raided his home with the justification that they were looking for drugs. Leiva, originally from Matagalpa, is imprisoned in the Penitentiary System of that city.
SPECIAL
Character of the year 2021:
The 167 political prisoners in Nicaragua
CONFIDENTIAL selected as the character of the year 2021 the 167 political prisoners, who defeated Ortega in the 7N elections. Read here the reports of this special series:
