Samantha Jirón, a young opposition activist who is imprisoned in Nicaragua, has served her 22nd year in isolation in a prison. She could not celebrate with candles or cake, except for some company that congratulated her on the day of her birth.
Instead, a picture of depression seized that and other days of Jirón, who has been detained since November 2021, days after the elections of that year, in which President Daniel Ortega was re-elected for another term. Shortly before, she put several presidential hopefuls in the Central American nation behind bars.
“There are moments when he is fine, but suddenly he feels bad, it’s like an up and down,” he told the voice of america about Jirón’s state of mind his mother, Carolina Jirón.
Carolina said that in the midst of this situation, her daughter removed the corrective braces from her teeth, arguing that it caused her pain and discomfort and that she could not access a dentist for a check-up, which, according to her testimony, the authorities had denied her. of the prison.
The information cannot be independently confirmed, given that the Ortega government and prison authorities usually give information to the non-official press.
The mother of the young opponent, however, says that her daughter sometimes overcomes sadness.
“She comes out happy to greet me, she tries to appear strong,” says Carolina, explaining that sometimes, when she visits her, her daughter puts on makeup and braids her hair to cheer her up.
Analysts consulted by the voice of americaadmit that in addition to this young woman, many others have gone to jail for confronting Ortega.
This is also the case of Lesther Alemán, 23 years old, who faced Ortega during the first national dialogue in 2018 in Nicaragua. Along with Alemán, the activist and president of the Nicaraguan University Alliance (AUN), Máx Jeréz, was also arrested.
Alemán’s family has denounced that the young man has drastically lost weight; while the leader Max Jeréz is in isolation. In fact, when his mother died Heidy Meza he was not allowed to attend the funeral.
The Nicaraguan University Alliance, to which Jeréz belongs, stated at the time that relatives, lawyers and friends made the corresponding arrangements, however permission was denied for him to attend the funeral.
Being young is a threat
Enrique Cuadras, a member of the Alianza Universitaria (AUN), who is in exile in the United States, explains the fundamental reason why he considers that there is persecution against young people: the key role played by the youngest during the 2018 protests against the Ortega government.
“Being young in Nicaragua has been one of the difficulties beyond what it represents in a normal society,” Cuadras told the VOA.
“It has cost us jail, exile, that our nationally recognized leaders, such as Max Jerez and Léster Alemán, leaders of my movement, are detained, unjustly convicted under laws that the Daniel Ortega regime designed to prosecute opponents,” he adds. the young man.
According to Cuadras, both Léster and Max, sentenced to thirteen years in prison, are having their basic human rights violated: “Procedures are violated, the rule of law is violated, and they are subjected to cruel treatment,” he says.
Both recently served a year in jail, he recalls.
“They continue with a lot of strength and that is the strength that moves the youth that allows citizens, despite the conditions, to be able to say that they have hope that a change will be achieved and we as young people, within the spaces in which that we can still do advocacy,” he adds.
Other young people have also been arrested for their critical stance against Ortega, even before 2021. Among these is John Cerna, a university student imprisoned in February 2020 upon leaving the Central American University (UCA).
Sarahí Cerna, sister of the young university student, commented that the young man is in a maximum security cell and constantly gets sick “without any doctor visiting him.”
“He is very depressed,” said his sister in a past interview with the VOA.
The Ortega government has said that the youth were part of an alleged plan to overthrow his government. The same alleges the judicial authorities.
Lesther Alemán, Max Jeréz and Samantha Jirón, for example, were singled out for conspire against the state. But in other cases the arrests have been justified by common causes, as was the case of Cerna, convicted of the alleged crime of drug trafficking.
There must be new measures: Human Rights Watch
Juan Pappier, senior researcher at the Americas Division of Human Rights Watchwarns that the international community must send more forceful measures against Ortega since it considers that a dangerous message is being sent to the region.
“This regime sends a worrying signal to other rulers that they may be able to get away with it,” Pappier says via Skype.
He assures that new measures should be considered, alleging that “although the sanctions bother the regime, they are not enough.”
“We must think of a more concerted response, which coordinates international efforts. Sanctions of an economic nature that impact and hurt the Ortega family, but that do not harm Nicaraguans, ”she concluded.
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