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At least six opponents were captured this Monday (09/14/2020) in Nicaragua, after the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, will reveal in Geneva that the political and social crisis continues in the Central American country.
In addition to the arrests, the Nicaraguan Police carried out sieges and raids against opponents in Managua, Bluefields (Caribbean), Nueva Segovia (north), and Camoapa (center), as reported by different organizations of opponents and human rights defenders.
In his report, Bachelet made reference to 94 opponents arrested in the context of the socio-political crisis that began in 2018, when demonstrations against President Daniel Ortega were reduced with armed attacks, which left hundreds of prisoners, dead or missing.
The high commissioner also said that the Nicaraguan government maintains its refusal to overcome the crisis through dialogue, executes violations of freedom of expression, and handles the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic with a lack of transparency, little dissemination of information. , and layoffs of medical personnel.
Hours after the report became known in Nicaragua, the National Police captured opponents Danny García, Bayardo García, and Lenín Salablanca, the latter, known for broadcasting live video almost every week, every time security officers stop him on his motorcycle for allegedly committing crimes, which they have not proven so far.
A captured family
The non-governmental Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) condemned the “arbitrary detention against the released Lenín Salablanca, the Police arrived at his mother’s house, invaded his property, and took him away by force.”
Additionally, a sister, a cousin, and Salablanca’s wife, Cristel Pérez, were captured when they arrived at the police station in the city of Juigalpa (center) to meet the opponent, who had already been imprisoned for ten months between 2018 and 2019, after participating in anti-government protests, relatives confirmed.
Deaths, arrests and siege against opponents are common in Nicaragua since the outbreak against Ortega in 2018, in what the United States has come to refer to as the “policy of jail, exile or death.”
According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the Nicaraguan crisis left at least 328 dead in 2018. Local organizations count 684 fatalities so far. Ortega admits 200, but maintains that he was the victim of a “failed coup.”
Nicaragua did not experience a similar crisis from 1980 to 1990, also with Ortega being president.
So far, the Nicaraguan government has not made a statement regarding Michelle Bachelet’s statement.
Faced with a series of events that are taking place in the country, the Civic Alliance declares a National Political Alert. pic.twitter.com/q0kw408FLw
– Civic Alliance Nicaragua (@AlianzaCivicaNi) September 13, 2020
Opposition launches alert
For its part, the opposition Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy declared a “national political alert” to the “repressive escalation of police violence” against opponents who protested against Ortega in the last week.
In a statement they detail ten points in which they warn that “the country is rapidly losing viability” and is heading “towards the total collapse of the weak institutionality and is heading towards a situation of chaos and uncertainty.”
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