Nicaragua removes Ortega’s opponents from the road ahead of presidential elections

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Nicaraguan authorities arrested on Tuesday the third opposition candidate for the Presidency of Nicaragua, paving the way for new reelection of President Daniel Ortega, in power since 2007 and branded as a “dictator” by the US, with five months to go before the general elections.

According to authorities, opposition politician and presidential hopeful Felix Maradiaga was arrested on Tuesday on charges of “inciting foreign interference in internal affairs”.

Maradiaga, an academic and activist, was detained after appearing to testify before the Prosecutor’s Office, where he was confirmed that an investigation had been opened against him.

Thus, the opposition candidate became the third aspirant to the Presidency of Nicaragua to be investigated and detained in the last few days.

The other two are Cristiana Chamorro, daughter of former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997), and Arturo Cruz, ambassador to the United States for the Ortega government 2007 and 2009.

In addition, the Prosecutor’s Office has also summoned Juan Sebastián Chamorro, nephew of the former president.

U.S. CALLS ORTEGA A DICTATOR

After Maradiaga’s arrest, the U.S. State Department’s Assistant Secretary for Latin America, Julie Chung, called Ortega a “dictator” and urged the rest of the world’s countries to treat him as such.

“The arbitrary detention of presidential candidate Felix Maradiaga – the third opposition leader detained in 10 days – confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt that Ortega is a dictator. The international community has no choice but to treat him as such,” Chung said on Twitter.

Read also: Nicaragua harassment of media and journalists increases, six months before elections

Last week, following the arrest of Cristiana Chamorro, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Ortega’s government was moving “in exactly the wrong direction”.

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, has said that Nicaragua is heading towards “the worst possible election” due to the lack of guarantees to hold a free, fair and transparent process.

OPPONENTS “GAVE UP THE ELECTORAL ROUTE”?

Juan Carlos Ortega Murillo, one of the sons of the Nicaraguan ruling couple, said in a tweet that in 2018 when a popular revolt broke out that the Executive qualifies as a coup attempt, “the vendepatria”, in allusion to opposition leaders, “gave up the electoral path”.

“We are heading towards a hegemonic party model in the 21st century, the arrest of Felix (Maradiaga) is one more of many that the regime plans to do until it feels that there are no voices against it”, said Eliseo Nuñez, a liberal-leaning analyst, on Twitter.

Read also: Candidate urges opposition to go to elections in Nicaragua and “prove fraud”

For constitutional lawyer and opponent María Asunción Moreno, “political life in Nicaragua is shaken by someone who believes neither in institutions nor in the Law.”

“Ortega is an enemy of freedom, he believes that it is better to destroy Nicaragua to consolidate a totalitarian system that allows him to control the future of all,” said the jurist.

For politician Bonifacio Miranda, Ortega “has the presidential pre-candidates as high-level hostages to negotiate with the United States” and to discourage “the opponents from going out to vote” on November 7.

Read also: Nicaragua’s parliament passes electoral reform limiting the work of international observers

The Nicaraguan government has demanded the US, Canada, the European Union, and the United Kingdom cease the sanctions imposed against companies and close associates of the Nicaraguan president in the context of the socio-political crisis that Nicaragua has been experiencing for almost 38 months.

OPPOSITION ACCUSED OF CALLING FOR MILITARY INTERVENTION

Regarding Maradiaga’s arrest, the National Police, which has already raided his home, informed that “he is being investigated for carrying out acts which undermine independence, sovereignty, and self-determination, inciting foreign interference in internal affairs, requesting military interventions, organizing with financing from foreign powers to carry out acts of terrorism and destabilization.”

Also, for “proposing and managing economic, commercial and financial blockades against the country and its institutions, demanding, exalting and applauding the imposition of sanctions against the State of Nicaragua and its citizens, and harming the supreme interests of the nation.”

Read also: Venezuela and Nicaragua on fast track to dictatorship, says Freedom House

Ortega, 75, who returned to power in 2007 and has ruled since 2017 with his wife, Rosario Murillo, is running for the eighth time for the presidency in the November 7 elections.

The Sandinista leader is in his second stage as president of Nicaragua, after coordinating a Government Junta from 1979 to 1985 and presiding over the country for the first time from 1985 to 1990.