Relatives of another 35 Nicaraguan political prisoners demanded that the Ortega regime release them immediately

Relatives of another 35 Nicaraguan political prisoners demanded that the Ortega regime release them immediately. (EFE)

The relatives of 35 Nicaraguan opponents who were not released along with the 222 prisoners expelled last week by the Daniel Ortega regime to the United States called on Tuesday for their “immediate release.”

Through a statement, the relatives denounced that Ortega’s prisoners are being held in six penitentiary centers “in degrading conditions” and where they are “the object of torture and ill-treatment”, they are denied medical attention and suffer threats and violent searches.

On February 9, Ortega released 222 opponents from prison and expelled them from the country in a plane that the United States sent for their transfer. Among them were seven former presidential candidates, businessmen, student and peasant leaders, journalists, lawyers, and human rights defenders.

Shortly after, the Sandinista dictatorship stripped those released of their Nicaraguan citizenship. Analysts, legal experts and human rights groups described it as an unprecedented violation of international law, at least in the Western Hemisphere.

Although they celebrated their release, the relatives of the 35 political prisoners asked “the international community, human rights organizations and friendly governments of the people of Nicaragua to support us in their release.”

Among those who were not deported were three religious: the Catholic bishop Rolando Álvarez, who according to Ortega refused to be exiled and was sent to the Modelo prison in Managua, and the priests Leonardo Urbina and Manuel Salvador García, convicted of alleged sexual crimes. and assault on a woman, respectively.

Among those who were not deported were three religious: the Catholic bishop Rolando Álvarez, who according to Ortega refused to be exiled and was sent to the Modelo prison in Managua, and the priests Leonardo Urbina and Manuel Salvador García, convicted of alleged sexual crimes. and assault on a woman, respectively. (Reuters)

The relatives of the 35 political prisoners say they do not know the reasons for their exclusion from the list of those released. Two relatives, who identified themselves only as Luisa and Emilia for fear of reprisals from the government, believe that there was “ruthlessness” against them.

Of the 35 prisoners, 10 have been imprisoned since before the protests that broke out in April 2018, said another relative identified as Lolita. Among the latter, she cited the case of former military man Marvin Vargas, alias “el Cachorro,” an opponent of Ortega who has been in prison for 12 years.

Nicaragua has been experiencing a serious political crisis since the 2018 social uprising that was repressed by police and paramilitaries with a toll of 355 dead, more than 2,000 injured, 1,600 detained and more than 100,000 exiled, according to human rights organizations.

Opposition lawyer José Urbina Lara is in a maximum security cell at the Modelo prison and is not allowed to bring in food or medicine, while Eliseo de Jesús Castro, a prisoner since 2019, “is bedridden in a hospital and without communication with the family,” said another of the complainants.

Consulted by The Associated Press, opposition activist Ivannia Álvarez, a member of the Support Group for Relatives of Political Prisoners and Prisoners, considered that the government did not release all the prisoners because “Ortega always keeps some prisoners to continue negotiating.”

Álvarez confirmed that some of the 35 are convicted of common crimes such as arms and drug trafficking. However, he said that several with similar sentences were released on February 9.

He pointed out that four inmates who were on the initial list did not travel because they were rejected by the State Department, including Jaime Navarrete, who had been deported from the United States in 2006, and Eliseo de Jesús Castro, whose state of health “is serious.” . About the other two he said he had no information.

The relatives of the 35 political prisoners say they do not know the reasons for their exclusion from the list of those released. Two relatives, who identified themselves only as Luisa and Emilia for fear of reprisals from the government, believe that there was “ruthlessness” against them. (Reuters)

Meanwhile, Chilean Foreign Minister Antonia Urrejola advocated the release of the 35 opponents and expressed her government’s concern over the 26-year prison sentence imposed on Bishop Álvarez after he refused to accept exile.

“We continue to be extremely concerned because there are still political prisoners in Nicaragua” and “very concerned about the situation of Monsignor Álvarez,” who was sentenced “in record time, without the right to due process and without access to his lawyers,” Urrejola told a Chilean radio station. .

The Chilean foreign minister in turn indicated that she is concerned that the 222 expelled “have had their nationality and all their civil and political rights taken away” and added that the government of Gabriel Boric will continue “monitoring and maintaining the strong voice that we have maintained” about the situation in Nicaragua.

(With information from The Associated Press)

Keep reading:

The Nicaraguan regime expelled an Italian priest requested by Interpol for sexual violence The United States denounced that there are still many political prisoners in Nicaragua Bishops of El Salvador and Costa Rica rejected the sentence against Monsignor Rolando Álvarez

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