There have been a number of interviews from people on the inside of the regime who left when the government began to fire on civilians: the Supreme Court judge Rafael Solís; the news editor of the principal Sandinista media, El 19 Digital, Carlos Mikel Espinoza; the FSLN political secretary at the Central Bank, Ligia Gómez. This article interviews a riot policeman who also left when the government began to fire on civilians.
“Yes, I repressed, and I am not going to wash my hands of it”: Confessions of an anti-riot Policeman
By Abizael Mogollón in La Prensa, Feb 21, 2021
He talks about the fact that the Police work in a coordinated way with paramilitary forces, states that there were executions in the police ranks, and that in each demonstration that happened in the country there are always at least three plainclothes police who infiltrate and pass information about the demonstrators.
He says that being hit with a stone saved him. A demonstrator in Masaya hit him with a stone when the rebellion began in April 2018. The blow to the head and the later consequences led him to a three-month disability leave which helped him to reflect on what he was doing with his comrades in arms.
“If they had not hit me with that rock, and the months on disability, I would be misguided here, repressing,” says Julio César Espinoza, who requested to leave the Police, for that reason was thrown in jail, and now is in exile.
In this interview he talks about the fact that the Police work in a coordinated fashion with paramilitary forces, recognizes his participation in the repression, and describes the moment in which the orders changed.
He states that there were executions within the ranks of the police, and in each demonstration that happens in the country, there are always at least three plainclothes policemen who infiltrate and pass information about the demonstrators.
How do you remember entering the Police academy?
A moment when you are filled with emotion and you feel proud of being there. For the first time I was going to receive knowledge that I never was close to knowing. I entered in 2012. In spite of everything, I have good memories with friends, they teach you to get along with people.
How was your process to become an anti-riot policeman?
In terms of that, everything was focused on basic tactics of public security. Dealing with drug addicts, criminals and abuse of them. One graduates and forms part of a structure of the Police and they request so many agents for a brigade, for traffic police, and they begin to make requests. I opted for the brigade, which are the anti-riot police. There it is very different from the academy; it is more than anything a strike force.
What did they teach you about dealing with demonstrations?
Deployment, how we were going to cover one another and how we are going to act making use of force.
Did they teach you to use firearms against demonstrators?
At the moment that I passed the course with a Cuban, that did not happen, and I graduated normally. Now things began to change in 2014, when the peasants appeared with the appeal of the canal law. I began to see that one thing is what is from the academy, and another thing is being on the scene, and the orders there are different.
Did you have more Cuban instructors?
No, just when I began the course. He was strict in the sense that he would tell us that we should advance, not be cowards, and verbal offenses. There was always verbal, and they would tell us that they were training soldiers and not sissies.
You say that with the Peasant Movement the orders began to change, what were they telling you?
I remember one December 24 in El Tule that some demonstrations were happening, and they gave us the order to shoot. But, at that time, since I was new, I did not have weapons, but I had a shield. The order was to open up the highway however possible, which was teargas and rubber bullets They began to repress there.
On that occasion did you see any officer use a firearm?
It was mostly rubber bullets. Several people were wounded, and a man even lost his eye. Another similar case was what happened in the demonstration in Mina El Limón. There they even said that the demonstrators killed an anti-riot policeman, but the truth is that the Police were to blame because the young man was unaware and was not fit. There they also repressed the people at the point of rubber bullets.
You felt comfortable with police behavior up until that moment?
I like the fact that you asked me that, because I remember that there were the famous Wednesday Protests at that time, which we would call “fresh Wednesdays”. There were several violent episodes there, and they had trained us to think that those who were there were sponsored by the United States, the yellow revolution, and that is how they were poisoning us. They had schooled us in this, and if there was a moment when I did repress, I am not going to wash my hands of it and say no, because I did repress.
During those Wednesday Protests once a gunman appeared dressed as a civilian.
Yes, he was one of them. We were aware about the fact that he supposed to be there, and he was provided the weapon by the National Police itself to clear out the demonstrators.
Were you aware of the existence of this relationship with the parapolice?
When I joined in 2012, the Social Security seniors had already been repressed in front of the Police. I began to identify with the strike-force, and they would tell us that we should wait for them to send in the Sandinista Youth (JS) first to act, and then we would. On several occasions the JS always acted in front of us.
Who used to lead those groups?
As far as I know, the one who organized them was Fidel Moreno.
Did you see Moreno at some time giving orders to those people?
No, I never did. That was what was known, but at no time did I see Fidel Moreno.
Who led them in the field at the moment of repression?
I do not know, but there is like an organization and they would let you know when there was a disturbance. They walk around with radios and state security that they call “los Cachos” who wear blue t-shirts when Ortega is going to be present in an event. It seems like they are the ones who organize that.
Are there retired policemen within those groups?
What I do know is that the people who participate there are retired Police who committed crimes, but they continue operating always for the Police. They are officers who were decommissioned.
You get the feeling that the JS had a lot of power. Did they have clashes?
They always felt themselves to have more authority. On some occasions they threw rocks and we have even created blocked off areas so that the JS did not clash, for example, with the peasants when they came to Managua. I would say to him, “Look, kid, what is going on?” And he would respond to me, “I am from the JS.” I did have several run ins with them and I would tell them that it did not matter to me who they were and that we were the local authority.
You were part of the anti-riot police who repressed the students on April 18, 2018 in Camino de Oriente.
I was there on the 18th when it exploded in Camino de Oriente. I arrived as reinforcements in the afternoon, because that started early, since 3pm. They gave us the order to move the people to the Jean Paul Genie traffic circle. We started to clean the area and we made a cordon surrounding the traffic circle because the self-convened young people wanted to move forward. There was Gonzalo Carrión shouting at us not to repress the crowd. With that like seven buses of the JS arrived armed with rocks, mortars, clubs, and pipes with their faces covered and looking malicious. We had closed the cordon and they gave us the order to open it to let the JS enter and they began to beat people.
So the order that day was to allow the JS to act.
Yes, the order was allow the JS to clean up and that we would stay on the margins. After that, when we were in the unit, they ordered us to line up and they told us that no one should leave because tomorrow we were going to Masaya. Some 70 of us anti-riot police left at 4am on April 19th for Masaya.
What happened in Masaya?
Mortar rounds started and shots until we got into Monimbó around 2pm, at the point of rubber bullets. We arrived in the neighborhood happy because we supposedly were winning, but we were shocked when we saw ourselves surrounded by people from Monimbó. They asked Managua for reinforcements, and I took to the hospital a boy who supposedly they had shot, as I was leaving in the patrol car, a self-convened young person come out and hit me with a rock. I had taken my helmet off because it was very hot. In the hospital they told me that the boy had not been shot, and that my wound from the rock was not serious. Later they sent me to Managua to bring back munitions, and they left me at the UPOLI, that had now exploded. That was the day, always with rubber bullets, that the riot policeman called Hilton Manzanares fell dead. At three o´clock in the afternoon on the next day I said to my boss that I could not take it any longer, and he called me a pussy. He sent me to the van, and as I was getting in, I fainted, and I woke up three days later in the hospital. They gave me three months off for sick leave.
That is when you changed your mind about the repression that you were a part of?
Right, it only took a week to see the reality of the situation. My sister told me that I should leave the Police, but I told her that I was going to look for the dude who had thrown the rock at me to make him pay. I was venomous. After a full month of sick leave, the Police called me because they needed people, and I told them no, that I was going to continue with my three months of rest seeing what they were doing, and they suspended my pay.
Do you think being hit by that rock saved your life?
Completely. Two things, it made me open my eyes and it saved me. I maybe would have left and would have paid with my life and we know that the Police, if you are working for them everything is fine, but if you leave, then it starts to go bad.
If you have not received that rock to the head that took you out of circulation, you would still be repressing?
I tell you 100% that yes, I would. If they had not hit me with that rock and if it were not for those months of sick leave, I would be there erroneously. My family participated in the blockades and I would not have been interested in that. I would be there working with the Police. What most motivated me was the burning of the children in Carlos Marx, then what happened on Mothers Day, and several fellow officers that the Police themselves executed.
The Police executed their own officers?
There were several fellow officers who told me that they submitted their resignation and that they were afraid. There was even one whose name was Douglas Mendiola who was from my class and everything. He told me that he was happy because I at least was in my own home and that he wanted to do the same. He told me how he had submitted his letter to resign, they accepted it and that day they sent him to the sit-in in the UCA. He left at night and around two am they were calling me to say that they had killed him. The bullet came from behind and was directly to his head. The exit wound was in front in the eye, and the family did not allow them at any time pay homage to him.
That is a serious accusation that you are making, do you know of other cases?
Most of the police executed were those who had requested leave. Most of the police who are dead, were executed by their own. There was a young man from Masaya that I knew, and he had a little girl, his name was José Abraham Martínez, and there was another one whose death was denounced by his mother.
Did any officer warned you about what was happening?
Many told me that I should be careful if I was going to return. They told me that it was getting ugly. There is a commissioner named Luisa Fernanda who was from the staff and squad of the National Brigade, and she was the one who was constantly calling me to tell me to show up. She told me that after the government had gotten fed up with me, I would pay for it in that way. I told her that I was not going to return until the sick leave was over, then she said get ready to pay the consequences.
Was it common that plainclothed police would infiltrate the protests?
Police have infiltrated the protests all the time. During the Wednesday Protests there were people who would collect information and even had IDs from some of these groups. There were always plain clothes Police in all demonstrations. I watched police from our own brigade how they would act against us, as if they were demonstrators, which was to not cause suspicion. They would tell us where they were going to move to, where they would meet and all of that. On April 18 police infiltrated the protest and even beat some of the Sandinista Youth to play the role of being protestors. They themselves passed us the information that the next day they were going to rise up in Masaya.
How are those infiltrated police chosen?
They pass a course on intelligence. They look for those who have a spark (intelligent), they told me several time that I could if I wanted. That is why I never wore civilian clothing because I knew what they wanted me to get involved in. When they discover you as a policeman, they kill you. Trained staff provide that training where they tell you how you are going to act and how to operate.
How did these agents pass on information?
By text message or directly by calls. Three or four would infiltrate. It was always the general who led the brigade who would receive that information and would order us to move.
How was it the day you were captured?
I went to Plaza El Sol [main Police station] to leave the document about my leave, and an officer told me that it was no good. He recognized me, and told me that if I was the famous anti-riot policeman who they had been calling, he knew that I was on leave, but he offered me to work with them, and that they would give me a salary, vehicle, assign weapons to me and give me ranks. I told him that I did not want to work, and I gave him my resignation letter. Upset he ordered me out of the office and shortly a Judicial support pickup truck arrived, and two men stuck me in a room and began to threaten me: or work with them or there would be consequences. They accused me of being in the blockades and providing them information about the Police. They let me leave, and on August 10, 2018 paramilitaries arrived to take me away.
Who are those paramilitaries?
I am not clear about that. For me there were the JS and the Police. That third force I no longer know, but according to what I heard they were people retired from the Army and Sandinista militants who participated in the revolution, and supposedly those groups were armed by Edén Pastora.
Do you regret having joined the Police?
I do not regret having joined the Police. I am in exile now paying this [exile] because of a government which is mistaken. But I am on the right side.
You do not regret participating in the repression?
I am not sorry that I repressed, because the Police started using weapons on April 20. There are two things that I am sorry about, and it was when we did beat people in the demonstrations. I did not kill people, nor did I shoot anyone. I repressed people, but not beyond that use of force.
Are all the Police stained with blood?
There are people who say that not all the police are bad. But they do follow, and later will say that they were afraid and were threatened. That happened to me, and they processed me and now I am here [in exile]. All the Police are stained with blood.
What do you think of Daniel Ortega?
He is a dictator who has to leave as soon as possible. He is worse than Anastasio Somoza. I am ashamed of the Police, and I have said that it has to be completely transformed. Not just the commissioners, but all have to be replaced and also the Army, who did participate.
Are you referring to the fact that the Army of Nicaragua was part of the repression?
They participated in a civil way and they provided weapons. Because the weapons that exist in the National Police, I know what they are, I was not familiar with RPGs, Dragunovs, PKM and all are weapons that the Police do not have. The most that the Police have are all nine millimeters, shot guns and AKAs.
Would you return to the Police in the future?
Yes, I have always said that. Changing the government should change the Police and I am going to return to serve my people, but as it should be done.
Personal Plane:
Julio César Espinoza Gallego is from the city of Diriamba. He is 32 years old. His parents have always worked in commerce. From an early age he helped his family selling eggs in Carazo. He was in the third year of high school in 2018, and he says that he wanted to go back to school, but he says that he does not appear as registered in the files of the Ministry of Education. He entered the Police force at the age of 22. He survives in exile working in construction, but it is not full-time.