On June 16, 2018, in the midst of the social protests against the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship, and the so-called cleanup operation had just begun, the most repugnant and atrocious collective crime occurred in Managua perpetrated by the state and parastatal security forces of the regime. Six people were murdered and burned alive, including two babies. The criminal act, which became known as “the Karl Marx crime”, because of the neighborhood in which it happened, still remains unpunished.
On the sixth anniversary of that attack that shocked Nicaragua and the international community, the Nicaragua Never Again Human Rights Collective insists that the crime remains unpunished, because the true culprits have not been captured and brought to justice.
That disastrous June 16, the morning was shocked by the news that a fire had been intentionally set in a three-story house in the Carlos Marx neighborhood, in the eastern sector of Managua.
In the building that was burned by criminals, six people lost their lives, including two children a few months old, as well as their parents and grandparents.
Related news: Dictatorship presents a fictional narration of the crime of Karl Marx
The images broadcast live by the media and on social networks were truly terrible and made half the country cry with indignation, while neighbors and rescuers who managed to enter, bypassing the police cordon imposed on several blocks, removed the bodies of the two babies. burned, like other adults.
In the fire, the baby Matías Eliseo Velásquez, four months old, his little sister Dayerli Osmary, three years old, as well as the adults Óscar Velásquez Pavón, 46 years old, lost their lives; his wife Maritza López Muñoz and their son Alfredo, 26, and Alfredo’s wife, Mercedes Álvarez, 20 years old.
Videos filmed by security cameras placed in homes and businesses near the place, as well as eyewitnesses, show police officers accompanied by plainclothes and armed people arriving at the place, then trying to enter the three-story house where a mattress business operated.
Finally the fire broke out and other witnesses affirm that the Ortega police dedicated themselves to preventing neighbors from helping the inhabitants.
Related news: British Parliament to present investigation report on “probable crimes against humanity” in Nicaragua
«These crimes remain unpunished to this day. As a collective we cannot forget the main milestones and serious dates that occurred in this context: on June 8, the attack on Carazo, Jinotepe, Diriamba, and the attack on Masaya during Operation Cleanup. On June 16, when the attack on the Carlos Marx neighborhood took place, where an entire family was burned to death at the hands of parastatal agents,” recalls Salvador Marenco, of the Nicaragua Never Again Collective, through a video sent to the media.
Likewise, the defense organization highlights that justice must continue to be demanded for all the crimes committed by the dictatorship, such as that of June 23, when Father’s Day is celebrated, and there were attacks on the eastern neighborhoods “where even children were murdered.” children”.
Marenco recalled that they have testimony from people injured during Operation Cleanup, who had to go seek refuge in Costa Rica to be able to receive medical care that they could not have in their country due to repression.
Related news: UN confirms that Ortega and Murillo committed crimes against humanity in Nicaragua
«We have also documented that the repressive body ordered to cut all communications on the days of the attacks to leave the victims more vulnerable. (These maneuvers) have been widespread, they were systematic during the months of June and July of 2018. We also documented clandestine detention centers throughout the country, in which the victims were tortured and many of them even sexually raped and other types of sexual violence,” defenders recall.
The Ortega-Murillo dictatorship has been identified by different human rights organizations as criminals against humanity. The evidence is so compelling that the United Nations Group of Experts on Human Rights for Nicaragua, in its second report on the Nicaraguan crisis, establishes that, indeed, the dictators Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, along with 16 of their officials and institutions, are responsible for crimes that may constitute “crimes against humanity.”
