More than 200 opponents They were released this Thursday in Nicaragua by the government of Daniel Ortega and “deported” to the United States.
Among these, ten figures stand out:
Christian Camorro
69 years old, She is the daughter of journalist Pedro Joaquín Chamorroassassinated in 1978 for his opposition to Somoza, and former president Violeta Barrios (1990-1997).
newspaper reporter The print which her father ran, aspired to run for president when she was arrested and placed under house arrest in June 2021. She was sentenced to eight years in prison.
His mother came to power in 1990 by defeating Ortega as a United Opposition candidate, ending the revolutionary Sandinista regime that had come to power in 1979.
The 93-year-old former president has been retired for years for health reasons.
Pedro Joaquin Chamorro
The 71-year-old journalist is Cristiana’s brother and was sentenced to 9 years in prison.
He bears the same name as his father and worked for the La Prensa newspaper, but gained notoriety managing funds in the United States for Contra guerrillas fighting the Sandinista government in the 1980s.
He was Minister of Defense in 1998-1999 and He was also a deputy for 10 years.
He was arrested in June 2021 along with other opponents including his sister and his cousin Juan Sebastián Chamorro (also released this Thursday).
Maria Fernanda Flores
The 55-year-old former first lady was an MP for the Constitutional Liberal Party until her arrest in 2021.
The wife of former President Arnoldo Alemán (1997-2002) received an eight-year sentence for conspiracy to commit crimes imprisonment and disqualification from public office.
Former president Aleman, 77, has lived for years on a farm on the outskirts of Managua, away from microphones and cameras.
Dora Maria Tellez
The 67-year-old former guerilla commander led in 1978 alongside Edén Pastora and Hugo Torres the taking of the National Palace of Managuawhich forced the release of dozens of Sandinista prisoners by dictator Anastasio Somoza.
She was Minister of Health in the Sandinista government after the fall of Somoza.
He left the Sandinista Front in 1995 with other prominent militants, such as the former vice president and writer Sergio Ramírez and the priest Ernesto Cardenal. She went on to lead feminist collectives.
She was arrested in June 2021 when the opposition was preparing for elections in November, in which Ortega was re-elected with all his rivals in prison or exile. She was sentenced to 8 years in prison.
Francisco Aguirre Sacasa
The 78-year-old former foreign minister was arrested in July 2021 and sentenced to eight years in prison “for carrying out acts that undermine independence, sovereignty and self-determination, [e] inciting foreign interference in internal affairs”.
He was the head of Nicaraguan diplomacy between 1997 and 2002 In the right-wing government of Arnoldo Alemán.
Victor Hugo Tinoco
70 years oldhe was vice chancellor of the Sandinista government in the 1980s. He was also a deputy and ambassador to the United Nations, but became an opponent of Ortega in the early 2000s.
He was arrested in June 2021 and sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment in 2022 on charges of conspiring to undermine national integrity to the detriment of the state of Nicaragua and society.
Arthur Cruz
69 years old, he served as ambassador to Washington for two years following Ortega’s return to power in 2007.
With a doctorate from Oxford University, he was one of the opposition Alianza Ciudadana’s presidential candidates and was arrested in 2021 at Managua airport as he prepared to travel to Washington.
In 2022, he received a nine-year prison sentence.
Oscar Rene Vargas
The 77-year-old sociologist went into exile after the 2018 crisisbut was arrested in November 2022 after returning to the country to visit his sick sister.
He was an adviser to Ortegabut he distanced himself shortly after resuming the presidency in 2007.
Medardo Mairena
The 47-year-old peasant leader was an activist against Ortega’s plan to build an interoceanic canal through Nicaragua (to compete with the Panama Canal), with financing from Chinese businessmen.
He was featured in the 2018 protests against Ortega with checkpoints.
He also aspired to be a presidential candidate when he was arrested in 2021. He received a 13-year prison sentence in 2022 for “having committed damage to the national integrity”.
Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro
He was the editor of the newspaper La Prensa, a critic of Ortega, arrested on August 14, 2021, the day after the police raided the newspaper’s premises.
Holman, granddaughter of former president Violeta ChamorroHe was sentenced to eight years in prison.
The newspaper, founded in 1926, went out of print in August 2022 and is now published online in exile.
Source: Clarin
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