The 16 candidates, politicians and entrepreneurs Nicaragua’s Ortega arrested last month

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Infobae) All of those arrested have a high academic profile and are recognized leaders of the Nicaraguan opposition. Many are senior citizens and even ex-comrades-in-arms of the Sandinista leader.

Most arrests occurred at night and the detainees’ homes were raided without court-ordered warrants.

Four politicians with aspirations to run for the presidency of Nicaragua next November, 5 opposition leaders, 3 ex-Sandinista guerrillas, 2 entrepreneurs and 3 activists of a foundation dedicated to promoting freedom of expression, make up the list against whom the Daniel Ortega regime has opened judicial proceedings in the past three weeks. The opposition considers them political prisoners, as most of them are prominent critics of the regime or are related to critics.

The arrests, which in this latest offensive began last May 28, share common patterns: 8 were carried out at night, and in most cases homes were raided without warrants. The charges, according to police press releases issued at the time of arrests, concern “evidence of attempts against Nicaraguan society and the rights of the people, in accordance with Law No. 1055 Law for the defense of the people’s rights to independence, sovereignty and self-determination for peace,” in 13 cases.

The profile of the detainees is also particular: 8 of them are senior citizens. All of them have university degrees, ranging from bachelor’s degrees to doctorates, and are either protagonists or linked to the opposition to Daniel Ortega.

The profiles of the last 16 political prisoners of the Ortega regime:

Luis Rivas Anduray, banker

Late Tuesday night, June 15, the Nicaraguan Police reported the arrest of Luis Rivas Anduray. The news dropped like a bombshell as it was a direct message from Daniel Ortega’s regime that he had decided to cross that “red line.” Rivas Anduray, 52 years old, has a PhD in Economics from Cornell University in the United States and is the executive president of Banco de la Producción S.A. (Banpro), the largest banking institution in Nicaragua.

This banker is not known for his public political position, except when he was in charge of the now defunct El Nuevo Diario, a newspaper that took a critical stance against the repression unleashed by Daniel Ortega’s regime in the wake of the 2018 popular uprising. On the contrary, Banpro has managed large accounts of the Sandinista government and its president, Ramiro Ortiz Gurdián, was one of the big businessmen who promoted the alliance that for almost 10 years worked between the big Nicaraguan capital and the government of Daniel Ortega.

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Arrested on charges under Law 1055, also known as “Sovereignty Law”, Banpro publicly reacted with a brief statement in which it said: “We are confident of the moral quality of Dr. Rivas and trust that his situation will be clarified.”

Víctor Hugo Tinoco, ex-Sandinista guerrilla fighter

He was captured by a group of civilians in a shopping mall parking lot on Sunday night, June 13. He is 68 years old, a sociologist, and was Nicaragua’s ambassador to the United Nations and the country’s vice-chancellor during the Sandinista government of the 1980s.

Tinoco joined the Sandinista Front in 1973 and fought against the Somoza dictatorship in the western part of the country. He was a deputy for the Sandinista Front and in 2001 disputed in internal primary elections the presidential candidacy in the Sandinista Front against Daniel Ortega, with whom he already had conflicting positions.

He was currently a member of Unión Democrática Renovadora (Unamos) formerly called Movimiento Renovador Sandinista (MRS) and openly a strong critic of the Ortega and Rosario Murillo regime, through interviews in different media.

“This struggle must continue, it will not stop… and the bright future that the people deserve is victory and freedom from the dictatorship and the dynasty they want to impose on us,” he said in a video recorded shortly before his arrest.

Hugo Torres, retired general

Yet another dissident of the Sandinista Front. Hugo Torres Jimenez is 73 years old and an ex-guerrilla of the Sandinista Front. He is the only guerrilla who took part in the two most famous operations in the struggle against the Somoza dictatorship: the raid to the house of Chema Castillo, in December 1974, and the seizure of the National Palace in August 1978. Both actions sought to pressure the Somoza dictatorship to release political prisoners.

Paradoxically, among the political prisoners released in 1974 with the “raid on Chema Castillo’s house” was Daniel Ortega Saavedra, who by then had served 7 years in prison out of the 14 he was sentenced to for the bank robbery in Managua.

“Forty-six years ago I risked my life to get Daniel Ortega and other fellow political prisoners out of jail. In 1978 I risked it again along with Dora María Téllez and other comrades to free approximately 60 political prisoners, among them Tomás Borge, Doris Tijerino, René Núñez and others,” said Torres in the video recorded before he was imprisoned.

During the 1980s, Hugo Torres was a member of the Sandinista Popular Army (EPS), where he reached the rank of brigadier general and was head of its Political Directorate.

He is currently vice-president of Unamos, the party born from the division of the Sandinista Front in 1995 under the name of MRS. He was a deputy for that party before the Central American Parliament.

He was also detained under charges related to the “Sovereignty Law.”

Suyén Barahona, opposition leader

She is the current president of Unamos, the party which until last January was called Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), founded in 1995 by dissidents of the Sandinista Front. She is 44 years old, has a degree in International Relations and a master’s degree in Environmental Policy.

Barahona is also a member of the opposition National Blue and White Unity group, which in turn is part of the National Coalition. “We can achieve change, a free country to live in,” she said in a video released after her arrest, which indeed occurred on Sunday, June 13.

The police justified her arrest on “carrying out acts that undermine independence, sovereignty, self-determination, inciting foreign interference in internal affairs, calling for military interventions, organizing with funds from foreign powers to carry out acts of terrorism and destabilization.”

Dora María Téllez, ex-Sandinista guerrilla fighter

The legendary guerrilla joined the Sandinista Front in 1973, at only 18 years of age, and at 22 she participated as “Commander Two” of the guerrilla group that on August 22, 1978 stormed the National Palace, seat of Congress, to take hostages and demand the release of political prisoners.

During the final insurrection against Somoza she was the military chief of the Western Front of the Sandinista Front and after the victory of the revolution she received the honorary ranks of “guerrilla commander.”

“A very beautiful girl, shy and absorbed, with an intelligence and good judgment that would have served her for anything great in life,” said of her the Nobel Prize in Literature, Gabriel García Márquez in his chronicle Asalto al Palacio (Assault on the Palace).

During the 1980’s she was Minister of Health and close to Daniel Ortega, with whom she was present in the only known guerrilla skirmish in which the Nicaraguan dictator participated.

She was a deputy of the Sandinista Front. She is 65 years old and has a master’s degree in History. She is the founder of the Sandinista Renovation Movement, of which she was president for several years.

She was arrested on Sunday, June 13 “for carrying out acts that undermine independence, sovereignty, 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,” the police press release reads.

Ana Margarita Vijil, opposition leader

She was arrested together with Dora María Téllez on Sunday, June 13 and both are members of Unamos, a political group of which she was also president.

Attorney, human rights advocate, she is a frequent face in the protests against Daniel Ortega’s regime. On October 14, 2018, she was momentarily detained while participating in a protest camp in eastern Managua.

She holds a master’s degree in Political Science from the United States thanks to a Fullbright scholarship. She has worked as a teacher and participated in the Nicaraguan team during the border conflict with Colombia in The Hague.

“Daniel Ortega is leaving, we are going to get him out,” she said in a 29-second video she managed to record when the police stormed into the house where she was taking refuge.

Tamara Dávila, opposition leader

She is 40 years old and a psychologist with experience working in the social area. She holds a master’s degree in Gender, Identity and Citizenship from the University of Huelva, Spain, and another in Social Policies, Rights and Role of Children and Adolescents from the Central American University.

Daughter of a deceased Army colonel, Davila is also a member of Unamos and of the political council of the National Blue and White Unity (UNAB).

She was arrested on Saturday, June 12 “for carrying out acts that undermine independence, sovereignty and self-determination, inciting foreign interference in internal affairs, requesting military interventions, organizing with funding from foreign powers to carry out acts of terrorism and destabilization, proposing and managing economic, commercial and financial blockades against the country and its institutions, demanding, praising and advocating the imposition of sanctions against the State of Nicaragua and its citizens, and undermining the supreme interests of the nation,” reads the police communiqué.

José Pallais Arana, opposition leader

The picture of the León police chief, commissioner Fidel Domínguez, exhibiting as a trophy the constitutional attorney José Pallais Arana, in flip-flops and shorts, was widely shared on Nicaraguan social networks on Wednesday, June 9.

The arrest of the renowned liberal jurist occurred shortly after the announcement of the imposition of sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department on 4 officials of Daniel Ortega’s government, among them, Camila Ortega Murillo, daughter of the presidential couple.

Pallais Arana, 67, is an attorney from the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN-León) and holds a doctorate from the Complutense University of Madrid. He was vice-chancellor and vice-minister of the Interior during the government of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997), deputy of the Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC) and was currently a member of the opposition National Coalition.

He suffers from multiple illnesses and his family has complained that he has not been allowed to take his medication to the prison where he has been held incommunicado since his arrest.

José Adán Aguerri, entrepreneur

President of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep) for 13 years, the chamber of entrepreneurs in Nicaragua, and the main author of the alliance with the government called the “Model of Dialogue and Consensus” which basically consisted of the Ortega government giving entrepreneurs management privileges in exchange for allowing it to advance its authoritarian model.

This alliance ended in April 2018, when the government circumvented the heralded “consensus” to enact social security reforms that served as a trigger for that year’s citizen protests.

“Personally, I was accused of being an accomplice, a collaborator, of being part of the human rights violations that were taking place. I faced complicated public situations where I never ceased to show my face,” said Aguerri in September last year when he left the presidency of Cosep to which he had been repeatedly reelected.

Aguerri, 59 years old, is an economist by profession and part of the Civic Alliance.

Violeta Granera, opposition leader

She is the daughter of Liberal deputy Ramiro Granera, who was murdered in cold blood by a Sandinista Front commando shortly before the overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979.

Granera, 70, was arrested on Saturday night, June 8, when some 35 police officers raided her home. That night she was placed under house arrest on repeated charges of “carrying out acts that undermine independence, sovereignty, and self-determination.” However, on the night of June 11 she was transferred to the cells of the Auxilio Judicial complex, known as “El nuevo Chipote.

A sociologist, member of the opposition National Blue and White Union (UNAB), in 2016 she was a candidate for the presidency of the Republic for the National Coalition for Democracy, an aspiration aborted when the Supreme Court of Justice handed over the party’s legal representation to a person outside her political grouping.

During the government of Enrique Bolaños (2001-2007), Granera was in charge of the National Council of Economic and Social Planning (CONPES) and was executive director of Fundemos (1995-2002) and deputy director of the Nicaraguan Association of Human Rights (ANPDH) between 1991 and 1995.

Juan Sebastián Chamorro, opposition presidential pre-candidate

On Tuesday night, June 8, he met the police detail that burst into his home to arrest him on his knees with arms raised. It was his way of pleading that he and his family not be beaten.

Chamorro, 50, is the son of Xavier Chamorro Cardenal, director of the newspaper La Prensa after the assassination of Pedro Joaquín Chamorro and founder of El Nuevo Diario. In 1990 he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics in California and later a doctorate at the University of Wisconsin. On April 22 he became the first aspirant to the presidential candidacy when he registered in the selection process of the Alianza Ciudadana.

He was vice minister of Finance and director of the Millennium Challenge Account in Nicaragua, a U.S. government cooperation program. He also directed the Nicaraguan Foundation for Economic and Social Development (Funides), today under investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

“Sometimes to gain definitive freedom, you have to lose it temporarily. This is a good fight, of good causes, let’s not allow a criminal dictatorship to strip us of our rights any longer. To my dear family I tell them not to worry, that I will be fine. I am prepared spiritually, mentally and physically for what is coming,” said Chamorro in his farewell video.

Felix Maradiaga, opposition pre-candidate

Maradiaga, 44, is a pre-candidate for the opposition National Blue and White Union (UNAB), which in turn is part of the National Coalition. He was violently arrested on Tuesday, June 8, after he left the Public Prosecutor’s Office where he was called for an interview.

He has a degree in Political Science with a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University.

He was secretary general of the Ministry of Defense and director of the non-governmental Institute of Strategic Studies and Public Policies (IEEPP). As a result of the 2018 uprising, he was accused by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of being the perpetrator of organized crime and financing terrorism, for which he went into exile for almost a year. He returned to Nicaragua in September 2019 after an amnesty law was enacted on such charges.

His wife, Berta Valle, believes Felix Maradiaga has been tortured during his detention and has demanded “proof of life” from her husband.

Arturo Cruz, presidential pre-candidate

He was the first Nicaraguan citizen arrested under Law 1055, which considers as “traitors to the homeland” those who “undermine sovereignty, independence and self-determination, who incite foreign interference in internal affairs, call for military interventions, who organize with funding from foreign powers to carry out acts of terrorism or destabilization.”

Cruz, 67, was arrested on Saturday, June 5, at the Managua airport while returning from the United States.

He is a pre-candidate for president of the Citizens for Liberty Alliance, and was ambassador in Washington for Daniel Ortega’s government between 2007 and 2009.

He holds a PhD in History from Oxford University and a Masters in International Relations from John Hopkins University. He is a renowned Nicaraguan academic.

Cristiana Chamorro Barrios, presidential pre-candidate

Unlike the rest of the detainees, Cristiana Chamorro, 67 years old, is accused by the Prosecutor’s Office “for the crimes of abusive management and ideological falsehood, both in conjunction with money laundering, goods and assets” allegedly committed through the now extinct Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, which she directed until last January.

Chamorro Barrios is the daughter of the ex-president of Nicaragua Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997) and the journalist and national hero Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal. Violeta Barrios defeated Daniel Ortega in the 1990 elections. Cristiana accompanied her mother during the electoral campaign and her administration. Her husband, Antonio Lacayo (RIP), was Violeta’s campaign manager and Minister of the Presidency during her government.

With no party affiliation, Chamorro Barrios had expressed her willingness to run against Ortega in next November’s elections and was leading all opinion polls as the most popular pre-candidate.

On Wednesday, June 2, her home was raided and she was placed under house arrest.

Marcos Fletes and Walter Gómez, ex-workers of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation

They were the first detainees of the raid that resulted in the arrest of 16 people. Fletes is the ex-financier and Gómez the accountant of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation which closed in early February this year, as declared by its director Cristiana Chamorro, given the inability to work with the repressive laws passed at the end of last year by Daniel Ortega’s regime.

Both were arrested on the Friday night, May 28.

Source: infobae