Opposition leaders and human rights defenders demand that the Ortega-Murillo regime present the retired Army major Eddie Gonzalez and “they have to present him alive” because, according to versions spread on social networks, when he resisted his kidnapping by shooting at the Ortega police, he was only injured, although other versions maintain that he was only beaten.
On July 14, at least three patrols of the Ortega police, reinforced by paramilitaries and plainclothes police intelligence agents, showed up at the home of the retired major and former military intelligence officer, to take him prisoner for having raised his voice in denunciation of the arrest and apparent banishment of his sister, the journalist Nohelia González.
Related news: Opponents and human rights defenders demand that the dictatorship present Eddie González “alive” and “not consider him dead”
The journalist was kidnapped by the police in Managua, after the closure of the Catholic radio station Radio Maria, for which she worked. Her whereabouts are still unknown.
The opposition leader and former political prisoner exiled by the dictatorship Ana Margarita Vijil, Through his personal X account, he demands that the dictatorship provide news about the whereabouts and health condition of Major González.
“Where is retired Major Eddie Gonzalez? He was wounded by the police and taken to an unknown location. The police have not given any explanation for the events. They took him alive, we want him back alive!” wrote Vijil.
For his part, the opposition leader in exile Hector Mairena, Through his social networks, he joined the demand for respect for the physical integrity of the retired military man. “The dictatorship must answer for the life and physical integrity of Eddie González,” says Mairena.
The Committee to Protect Journalists brought together journalists from Latin America to demand, through a video on social media, the freedom of the Nicaraguan journalist Victor Ticay imprisoned and sentenced by the Daniel Ortega dictatorship to eight years in prison after being accused of spreading false information and conspiring to destabilize national integrity.
Related news: Sports journalist Fernando Rayo, son of judge Eveling González, detained by the Ortega regime, disappears
The international campaign to demand Ticay’s release is supported by journalists from El Salvador, Guatemala, Argentina, Brazil and Nicaragua. “Ticay is serving an unjust sentence in the “Jorge Navarro” prison system, known as “La Modelo,” says Alexander Valdez, a Guatemalan journalist. “Today we demand freedom for Victor Ticay and express our solidarity with Nicaraguan journalists,” says Allan de Abreu, a Brazilian.
Ticay was broadcasting a religious event during Holy Week in Nandaime, Granada, through his social media portal “La Portada” when he was arrested. The Ortega government banned religious expression in public spaces on April 5, 2023, one day before the arrest of the journalist, who also worked as a correspondent for Channel 10.
Journalist Fernando Rayosports reporter for the pro-government Channel 8, has been missing since Friday, July 12, confirmed sports reporter Miguel Mendoza, a former political prisoner and denationalized by the Nicaraguan regime.
Mendoza stated, through his social networks, that he has “information that the (Ortega) Police arrived at his house (Rayo’s)”, where it is publicly known that he and his wife live.
Rayo, the publication details, “did not attend the Chocolate (Román) González fight, despite having gone to pick up his press credentials” and has not posted anything on his social networks, where he is “quite active.”
Rayo’s disappearance became public four days after it became known about the capture of his mother, the Judge Eveling Gonzalezwho has more than 30 years of service in the Judiciary, according to information shared by attorney Yader Morazán.
