The regime of President Daniel Ortega and Vice-president Rosario Murillo treats its jailed opponents as badly or worse than the Somoza family dictatorship, brought down by the Sandinista National Liberation Front in 1979, writes Dick Nichols.
MEXICO CITY (AP) Families of four well-known opposition figures jailed in Nicaragua fear for their relatives’ lives because of bad conditions at the infamous El Chipote prison. The four prisoners began a hunger strike in September to protest a lack of medical care, bad food and mistreatment after they were arrested and placed on trial for vague charges akin to treason.
The Ortega-Murillo regime in Nicaragua exhibited prisoners of conscience in “informative hearings” at the Managua Judicial Complex between August 30 and September 1. The regime-run media broadcast the proceedings, branding the prisoners as “terrorists, coup plotters, and homeland traitors,” pointing out that most of them supported in one way or another the massive social protests of 2018. With these appearances, the relatives of the inmates were able to witness the deteriorated physical state of their loved ones.