The Blue and White National Unity (UNAB), within the framework of the anniversary of the Nicaraguan Army, sent a message of “solidarity” with the officers, classes and soldiers who do not agree with the Daniel Ortega regime and “aspire to be part of a professional institution.
“Nicaragua today is bleeding from all sides and all Nicaraguans, including State workers, Army officers and soldiers, are suffering from the uncertainty and the social and economic consequences of the political crisis that originates from the dictatorship. The officers, classes and soldiers of the Army are also victims of the crisis that the country is experiencing, caused by the dictatorship of the Ortega-Murillo family,” refers to the statement of the opposition organization dated September 2.
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Unab denounces that “after 2018, the Army is seen as a complacent instrument with the Ortega dictatorial project. And this is due to the fact that some officers, from different levels of command, have lent themselves to being active accomplices of the dictatorship, and have turned a blind eye to paramilitary groups and their crimes. Those, personally, must respond to justice.
The organization highlights that, despite this situation, “hundreds of officers, classes and soldiers, aspire to be part of a professional, honorable institution at the exclusive service of the homeland, of a professional, non-partisan, apolitical, obedient and non-deliberative nature, as defined by the political constitution since 1995».
Through the statement they also recall the death of retired general Hugo Torres who died “at the hands of the dictatorship”, they also point out that Torres has not been the only victim because “other retired senior officers have suffered jail, political persecution and are restricted their free movement or departure from the country.
The Army, accused of being part of the repression against Nicaraguans, is still not sanctioned as an institution by the United States Department of the Treasury, but its main bosses are. General Julio César Avilés, head of the military institution; and Colonel Julio Modesto Rodríguez Balladares, director of the Military Social Welfare Institute (IPSM); they were blacklisted on charges of cooperating with Ortega in institutional dismantling and human rights violations.
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Avilés has publicly and openly shown his loyalty to the government of Daniel Ortega, condemned by the national and international community for his continuous violation of the rights of citizens. To date, he is holding more than 200 political prisoners in the country’s different prisons, according to the recent report by the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners.
The United States has denounced that the country’s Army “is politically aligned with President Ortega, it refused to order the dismantling of the paramilitary or parapolice forces during and after the political uprisings that began on April 18, 2018.”
In addition, it adds that “the military provided weapons to the parapolice that carried out acts of violence against the Nicaraguan people, which resulted in more than 300 deaths, significant acts of violence and human rights abuse against people associated with the protests.”
