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  - Voice of America archive photo - |
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Published on Thursday,
September 16, 2021
By the AM Costa Rica staff and wire services International News A report submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council blasts the Nicaraguan government’s harsh crackdown on opposition leaders prior to the Presidential and Parliamentary elections that will be held on Nov. 7. Critics accuse Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega of systematically ridding himself of viable opposition candidates to secure a fourth consecutive term as President of the country, according to a report by Voice of America Journal, VOA, which is the U.S. government news agency funded by the U.S. Congress. In her latest update to the Council, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michele Bachelet said increasing restrictions by Nicaraguan authorities on peoples’ right to vote are undermining free and fair elections. She said Nicaraguans should be able to exercise their right to vote without intimidation, violence, or administrative interference. Her report documents the arbitrary detention of 16 people between June 22 and Sept. 6. The detained include political leaders, human rights defenders, businesspeople, journalists, as well as peasant and student leaders. She said these arrests are in addition to 20 other government opponents who have been detained since May 28. She spoke through an interpreter. “This group includes six men and one woman who have publicly stated that they were aspiring to the presidency…The large majority of these people remain deprived of their liberty and have been so for up to 90 days, being held incommunicado, some in isolation without any official confirmation as to their whereabouts from the authorities to their families,” she said. The Public Prosecutor’s Office says most of the people detained are accused of conspiracy to undermine national integrity and other crimes linked to the implementation of cooperation funds. U.N. rights chief Bachelet said attacks on freedom of expression and against the media and journalists have intensified. She said similar patterns of repression are being registered against human rights defenders, social and political leaders, among others. “Given this deteriorating situation in Nicaragua, it is essential that the government once again guarantee the full enjoyment of civil and political rights of all Nicaraguans, that they put an end to persecution of the opposition, press, and civil society, and that they immediately and unconditionally release the over 130 persons detained since April 2018, according to civil society sources,” Bachelet said. The Nicaraguan government has consistently brushed off U.N. and international criticism, claiming it is based on disinformation from North American and European countries seeking to maintain their colonial grip on the country. While in Costa Rica, this week was reported the allegedly most recent attack against a Nicaraguan man, leader of the opposition Ortega government. On Saturday, Joao Maldonado, allegedly leader of a movement against Ortega, was shot while driving his car in Escazú Canton, San José Province. Maldonado lives as a refugee in Costa Rica after being persecuted in his country. Allegedly, he was shot by two men who were riding a motorcycle. That Saturday night Maldonado was driving his car to a meeting place of members opposed to the Ortega government. They were organizing a march against Ortega that took place on Sunday in San José. Agents of the Judicial Investigation Organization continue with the investigation of the case to find those responsible for the attack against Maldonado. -------------
How could the Nicaraguans depose
Daniel Ortega and move to a democratic
country without having the support of the
army? We would like to know your
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