More and more opposition leaders arrested in Nicaragua

In Nicaragua, President Ortega is increasing pressure on the opposition. Five other opposition leaders were arrested on Sunday, bringing the total number of arrests since the beginning of this month to twelve.

The wave of arrests comes months before the November 7 polling date. According to the opposition, no one is safe anymore and members are arrested one by one. “This is not a transition to a dictatorship, this is he is Former general and defector Hugo Torres said shortly before his arrest.

According to Torres, a former ally of the president, Ortega’s 75-year-old regime is “more stifling” than that of dictator Anastasio Somoza, who was toppled by Ortega’s Socialist Party in the late 1970s. The latter then led the country until 1990. He became president again in 2007, after three failed attempts, and has been in power ever since.

At least four potential opponents of Ortega have been arrested in recent days. Apart from that, many critics and opponents are trapped in the Central American country. According to the left-wing opposition party Unamus, Ortega betrayed his ideals. Ortega’s supporters say the arrests only serve to enforce the law, which prohibits election candidates from receiving financial aid from abroad and publishing information the government believes is false.

Ortega hopes to be elected to a fourth term in November. Its popularity has declined since 2018. In that year He suppressed protests against his rule, resulting in hundreds of deaths. The West has imposed sanctions because Ortega is undermining democracy. Human rights groups say Ortega has killed all democratic institutions since taking power fourteen years ago.