“We are trying criminals”: Ortega will not take “one step back” hunting down opponents
By Divergentes, June 23, 2021
“We are not putting politicians on trial; we are not judging candidates. Here criminals are being tried who have undermined the country,” Ortega said, while at the same time he questioned the international community and the pressure to cease the repression and free elections. “They think that they are going to break us with sanctions”, he excoriated.
After ordering the abduction of 20 people in 25 days, the Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega reappeared in public this Wednesday June 23 to state that in this onslaught that “there will not be one step back”, in spite of the fact that the international community continues demanding the freedom of those arrested and electoral conditions so that there can be a democratic outcome to the political crisis that Nicaragua is experiencing since April 2018.
“Here we are not putting politicians on trial, we are not trying candidates. Here criminals are being tried who have undermined the country,” said Daniel Ortega in reference to the 20 new people arrested, among whom are five presidential hopefuls, business people, members of political parties, former guerrilla fights and workers of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, the first organization persecuted since mid-May by the Sandinista regime.
Ortega pointed out that those arrested were trying to organize “another coup” similar to the uprising that occurred in April 2018 to overthrow him. “That is what we are persecuting, investigating, and that is what will be punished in its time, just as the law mandates,” he added. To justify himself, the Sandinista Commandante said that, “what causes surprise is that suddenly the Prosecutors, the Police, have found a network that has been being denounced for some time, which conspired and embarked on committing the most brutal crimes that have been committed in recent times here in Nicaragua in April 2018.”
It is worth noting that this Wednesday the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) recalled that the human rights crisis in Nicaragua and the violent behavior of the Ortega-Murillo regime have resulted in at least 328 fatal victims, in addition to more than 2,000 people wounded, more than 100,000 people who have migrated to other countries, and more than 1,600 people deprived of freedom in these three years.
“They think that they are going to break us with sanctions”
The onslaught of Ortega against opponents began in mid-May. It started with the investigation of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, which until the beginning of this year was led by Cristiana Chamorro, the most popular presidential candidate according to surveys. This provoked the rejection of international organizations like the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations (UN). It also resulted in expediting the bill for the Reinforcement of the Adherence of Nicaragua to Conditions for Electoral Reform (RENACER for its acronym in English), which means more sanctions against the close circle of Ortega and could be applied within four months.
“They are there on their knees asking for sanctions. They think that with sanctions they are going to break Nicaragua. Nicaragua has experienced much more difficult moments,” said Ortega, who added that the sanctions against his regime began since he assumed the presidency in 2007. “They have been increasing, with all those funds that they got into Nicaragua,” Ortega pointed out.
The Sandinista strong man said that the judicial authorities will present the results of the investigation that supposedly they are carrying out against 20 people under arrest. “Do not come in with the story that they are (presidential) candidates…if there are no registered candidates here, the time for the registration of candidates has not arrived yet. They do not have even one candidate,” added Ortega. “They brought them together in the (US) Embassy, to force them to unite. The Yankee embassy first of all, and other embassies fully involved. Bringing them together so that they might unite (the opposition).”
He does not recognize the presidential candidates
Shortly before beginning this tirade against the opposition, the Citizens for Liberty Party (CXL) had reopened their registration of candidates, which several candidates to the presidency had gone to, for the purpose of seeking to be the sole presidential candidate that would unite the opposition on that ballot. On June 1, the day on which Cristiana Chamorro showed up to make her candidacy official, the Prosecutor inhibited her from competing for a public post, in spite of the fact that she had not been found guilty in a final ruling (which had passed through all the appeal processes). On the following day he ordered the raid on her home and she remains arrested under the figure of house arrest, without her having any contact with her lawyers.
Nevertheless, this Wednesday Ortega complained about the “global right wing” communications media, because those arrested they describe as candidates or pre-candidates. “Not even pre-candidates of their own group, much less candidates of a unity that never existed,” said Ortega.
Concerning the persecution of the Prosecutor´s office, Ortega said that a network has been found that supposedly includes names, non-governmental organizations, known people who “serve as a cover” for getting resources into Nicaragua. But so far, they have not presented any evidence. “If it got complicated for them to get resources into Nicaragua, then they would open up other offices in neighboring countries in Central America, like Costa Rica. The proof and evidence is coming from there. And there the enemies of the revolution, of the people, are crying out: poor little people, how is it possible that they are detained?”
This past Tuesday June 15 the OAS approved a resolution supported by 26 countries of the organization, a record number in rejection of the administration of Ortega, where they ask for the liberation of those under arrest. A week later, this Tuesday June 22, the UN issued a formal declaration signed by 59 countries that also requested the liberation of these citizens. And even though countries like Argentina and Mexico did not sign any of the documents, these nations published a press release where they expressed concern “especially for the arrest of political opposition figures.”
About this, Ortega said that some countries dare to attack Nicaragua, “when they have glass ceilings and floors”. That is why he urged that “they quit with the absurdity that we should free them (the political prisoners)…Let them forget that there is no justice in Nicaragua.”
He defends the “right” to have atomic weapons
Ortega appeared this Wednesday, after more than a month of public absence, accompanied by his wife and Vice president of Nicaragua, Rosario Murillo, and Carlos Fonseca Terán, son of the founder of the Sandinista Party, Carlos Fonseca Amador, who this Tuesday would have celebrated his 85th birthday.
During his intervention, Ortega defended “the right” of all countries to have atomic weapons. “On account of what do only the developed countries have the right to have atomic weapons? A developing country has the same rights as a developed country.”
These declarations resonated the day after the Ministry of Defense of Russia, Seguéi Shoigú, confirmed that Nicaragua requested supply “of the most modern weapons and preparation of soldiers for military activity in pretty complex conditions.”
Ortega said that “if the less developed country has arms, it would not be easy to touch them.” This implies a frontal attack on the United States because one of the points of the RENACER bill which was approved yesterday in the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate is that of requiring reports on Russian military sales to Nicaragua.