Nicaraguan authorities have arbitrarily arrested hundreds of people for their participation in the protests against the government of Daniel Ortega, according to human rights organizations.
Villagers, students, and entire families are victims of persecution, arrests or kidnapping for participating in opposition marches or have a humanitarian gesture towards those who oppose the government, according to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh).
One of the detainees is the leader of the Student Movement of Masaya, Cristian Fajardo, and the university student Valeska Sandoval, one of the students who took refuge in the Divina Misericordia church in Managua during a paramilitary attack on the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN) July 14th.
The executive director of the Cenidh, Marlin Sierra , said that the number of people arrested is not exact because they arrest them one day, free them, and then arrest others.
The Permanent Commission of Human Rights (CPDH) received complaints from relatives of 150 people arrested and an equal number reported as kidnapping. Meanwhile, the Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights (ANPDH) received complaints from some 700 detainees.
We implore them in the name of God to stop the hunting of young people (…) It is not possible to criminalize people for protesting and treating them as terrorists,”
said the archbishop of Managua, Silvio Báez.
In the midst of the protests against the Ortega government, the parliament controlled by the ruling party approved a controversial law against terrorism that punishes anyone who participates in activities against the government with 15 to 20 years in prison.
Sierra also says the so-called Sandinista Leadership Councils (CLS) in each neighborhood are responsible for raising lists or pointing out the people who opposed the government.
Ortega, with 11 years in power, faces the worst political crisis by opposition demonstrations that in three months have left more than 290 dead and a widespread demand for his departure from power, with his wife and vice president Rosario Murillo.