The tragedy of the relatives of political prisoners who have been jailed more than 100 days
September 29, 2021 in Confidencial
The day that the political prisoner Ana Margarita Vijil saw her mother María Josefina Gurdián, after 80 days imprisoned in the Evaristo Vásquez police complex, known as the “new Chipote”, she wanted to show her strength. Ana Margarita was pale, very thin and was suffering a stomach infection, but her greatest concern was the health of her mother, who has had cancer since 2019.
In spite of all the difficulties that she experiences in jail, Ana Margarita did not want to upset her mother and “more than tell me things about her she asked about me,” tells María Josefina, know lovingly as Pinita. “I have gone through two chemotherapies, I lost my hair and grew it back, I am in the process of healing, but cancer is difficult, you never know, it is treacherous and in addition it takes advantage of these moments of tension, of pain, that we family members experience over the unjust detention of Ana Margarita and Tamara (Dávila, her granddaughter),” she explains.
Cristian Tinoco, the daughter of political prisoner Victor Hugo Tinoco, also suffers from a type of cancer that has her hospitalized, and her disease represents the biggest concern of her father. In addition, Heidi Meza Torres, mother of political prisoner Max Jerez, died this past September 17 because of a pleural effusion and pneumonia, without being able to say goodbye to her son.
The Nicaraguan Human Rights Center (CENIDH) counted at least eight cases of relatives of political prisoners who have died without begin able to say goodbye, while the Articulation of Social Movements (AMS) a week ago published a record of 15 relatives of political prisoners deceased since 2018.
The cruel, degrading and inhumane treatment that the political prisoners suffer from the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo transcends to their relatives. Vilma Nuñez, president of CENIDH, considers that “they practically are victimizing them,” because – in some cases – not even on their deathbed do they let them say goodbye, and others who suffer serious diseases are mistreated in the different State institutions.
The “victimization” of the relatives of political prisoners is “a very serious situation” warns Nuñez, given that Penal Rights principles say that “the punishment does not transcend beyond the prisoner.” This means that if someone is sentenced, for any crime, “that angst, that situation of desperation”, must not be transferred to their relatives, who have a right to see them regularly and in the case of t death, the prisoner should have the possibility of attending the funeral.
“It is truly painful, truly dramatic, seeing the ongoing pilgrimage of these family members climbing that hill to approach “El Chipote” with the hopes of finding in some policeman a different response to what they are ordered to do. The most that they have been able to achieve is that they say “we are going to consult or they are orders from above.” Above where? Definitely with that response, “they are orders from above”, they are demonstrating to the world that it is in El Carmen from where all the jailings and violations of rights are directed,” explained the president of CENIDH.
Punished with migratory restrictions
This past September 2, Pinita Gurdián was on a bus heading to Costa Rica, where she was going to have specialized exams to rule out the presence of cancerous cells in her body, but in the border post of Peñas Blancas the migration authorities of Nicaragua took away her passport and practically forced her to return to Managua. Since then, she has asked on several occasions for the identification document, but no one has known how to explain to her why she cannot leave the country.
“I was detained in Peñas Blancas, and I was not able to continue my trip because they took away our passports, passports which they have not returned to us. It is a complete arbitrary act because, why are they going to detain me? I was going to travel for my health, but – in addition – why are they going to detain me if I am a free person? I have a right to leave, I have the right to walk in freedom,” demands Pinita, who tries to be strong because, she assesses, “this situation is harmful to the process of my cancer, and I know that the best gift that I can give to them (Ana Margarita and Tamara) is that I be calm,” she emphasizes.
Prevented from traveling outside the country to do specialized exams, “the only thing that I have done is see my oncologist-gynecologist here, but with that I cannot discover whether I have cancerous cells in my body,” comments Pinita, who is very fearful that the disease might continue developing within her body.
Another case of migratory restriction happened to Lesther Alemán Navarrete, the father of political prisoner Lesther Alemán Alfaro, who this past July 16rh traveled from the United States to inform himself about the situation of his son and support his wife in Nicaragua. Nevertheless, “an order from above” prevented him from entering his own country.
Alemán told CONFIDENCIAL that on leaving the plane he noticed the presence of two policemen and two officials from the Nicaraguan Army. He did not bat an eye and continued walking. He turned in his negative COVID-19 test, the migration document and was directed to the review of his passport; at that moment he perceived that the four officials were behind him, and later he came upon a policeman and a worker in the General Migration and Immigration Office, who asked him for his passport.
After reviewing his passport and asking him to take off his mask to photograph him, they led him to a room. There a policeman said to him, “Did you know that you do not have permission to enter the country?”. Alemán Navarrete asked why, since he is Nicaraguan and he presented his passport as a citizen. Nevertheless, the officer argued, “There is an order from above that you cannot enter the country,” he emphasized.
Prevented from communicating
On the other hand, the regime of isolation in which the political prisoners remain keeps their family members from communicating about the situations which are affecting them. Such is the case of the political prisoner Miguel Mora, whose relatives have not been able to tell him that his wife, Veronica Chávez, and his son, Miguelito Mora, who has a disability, remain hospitalized in critical condition, after being infected with Covid-19.
Fabiola Chávez, the sister of Veronica, laments the fact that as a family “we have not had the opportunity to tell” Miguel about the illness of his son and wife, even though his lawyer has submitted a brief that he be informed, but “we do not know” whether that happened.
Chávez explained that the son of the political prisoner remains in intensive care since September 15th, because due to his neurological problems COVID-19 has attacked him in an aggressive way and his lungs are very affected. Meanwhile, Veronica is recovering from the illness even though she continues to be hospitalized.
In 2019 when Miguel Mora was jailed the first time, his maternal grandmother died, Clorinda Barberena, but the regime did not allow him to attend her funeral.
The relatives of the political prisoners captured within the framework of the electoral process have denounced that neither the Judicial Branch nor the National Police have offered them any explanation for the isolation of their relatives. Which is why they issued an “urgent call about the imminent risk of irreversible damage to the physical and psychological integrity of our relatives.”
Also the president of CENIDH states that the State of Nicaraguan has violated the “Nelson Mandela Rules” of the United Nations Organization, that – among other things – obliges it to report to prisoners “in due form, in the case of the death or a serious situation of a relative and allow them to attend the funeral.”
A pain that is suffocating”
If knowing that they are enclosed is a difficult situation for the relatives of the political prisoners, the fact of not being able to see them nor know anything about them is “exasperating”. In these cases there are no rights that are respected, the hearings have been held in the jail and there is very little that the lawyers have been able to do.
“It is a pain which is suffocating, I feel that I cannot breathe because it is terrible to feel for a loved one -In my case there are two people – in an enclosed situation, alone, in solitary confinement, hungry,” relates Pinita. “This envelopes my feelings, my heart, my hours, I cannot sleep at night, I cannot eat, because it is not easy to spend more than 104 days with only one visit,” she adds.
In these moments of angst “I find support in my Christian faith and in my family”, Pinita comments, who states that all therapy ends up being “useless” when your relatives are Imprisoned and in conditions worse than those of common prisoners. “They are innocent of all the charges that they want to accuse them of,” she points out. “I demand freedom for them and for all the political prisoners, freedom, freedom, freedom,” she concludes.