US calls “despicable campaign” arrests of dissidents in Nicaragua

Managua. – United State Today, Saturday, she described the wave of arrests of several opposition political leaders in Cairo as a “despicable campaign.” NicaraguaAmong them are seven presidential candidates for the elections in which the Sandinista president participated Daniel Ortega, who has been in power since 2007, will seek re-election.

On her Twitter account, Julie Chung, Acting Under Secretary of State for the US Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs, responded to the arrest of the opposition presidential candidate in Nicaragua. Noel Fedori and political commentator Jaime Arellano, who was placed Saturday in police custody for questioning on charges of alleged treason.

President Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, criticized “the day the voters in Nicaragua confirm their registration (citizens check the electoral register),” they arrested two more political opponents.

“Presidential candidate Noel Fedori and journalist Jaime Arellano are just two victims of a despicable campaign to criminalize peaceful dissent” in Nicaragua, he said.

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On the day voters in Nicaragua confirmed their registration, Ortega and Murillo arrested two other political opponents. Presidential candidate Noel Fedori and journalist Jaime Arellano are the latest victims of a despicable campaign to criminalize peaceful dissent.

– Julie Chung (@WHAAsstSecty) 24 July 2021

Nicaraguan police, led by Francisco Diaz, Ortega’s brother-in-law, said they had launched an investigation against Fedori, a presidential candidate by the opposition Citizens for Freedom (CxL) coalition, and Arellano, and that “both of them remain in their residence under police custody”.

They are listed as “traitors to the homeland”.

Fedori and Arellano are both under investigation by the National Police, which cited the Law on Defending the Rights of the People to Independence, Sovereignty and Self-Determination for Peace, which was urgently approved by the National Assembly, with a Sandinista majority, last December.

This controversial law, promoted by the executive branch, lists “traitors to the homeland” and disqualifies them from running for public office.

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As part of the electoral process, the Nicaraguan authorities have arrested opposition presidential candidates Cristiana Chamorro, Arturo Cruz, Felix Maradiaga, Juan Sebastian Chamorro, Miguel Mora, Medardo Marina and now Fedori, who are under investigation for alleged treason.

In addition, two former vice chancellors, two former Sandinista historical opponents, one businessman, banker, former first lady, five opposition leaders, two student leaders, two peasant leaders, a journalist, and two former NGO workers And the driver from Christiana Chamorro.

Meanwhile, law professor and constitutional lawyer Maria Asuncion Moreno, who was proposed as a presidential candidate by the Civic Alliance against Justice and Democracy, left her home two weeks ago after prosecutors called her for an interview without specifying a reason. , damaged or missing.

Read also arrest of student and peasant leaders in Nicaragua; There are 27 dissidents arrested

While former contra leader Luis Flay, who was one of 11 candidates for the presidency of the opposition, left Nicaragua and announced, from exile, that for security reasons he decided to withdraw his aspirations.

The arrests of opposition leaders come in preparation for the November 7 general election, in which Ortega, a former Sandinista fighter, returned to power in 2007 after presiding over the country from 1979 to 1990 and ruling alongside his wife since 2017. President Rosario Murillo will seek re-election for another five years.

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