The paradoxical element of the April 2018 uprising is that many of those who participated were upstanding members of the Sandinista Front at the time, who participated in its different party structures, but felt that the repression unleashed on the demonstrators went too far. But when they objected, they were accused of being traitors and eventually coup supporters by the regime. With the recent denouncement of the Nicaraguan representative to the OAS Arturo McFields, the question has been raised about why more State workers do not denounce the regime. This is a transcription of an interview of a former worker in the Judicial Branch done on the 4 year anniversary of the uprising, who explains the pressures that State workers face.
In Nicaragua Investiga April 19, 2022
Arlen Escoto Cruz, former worker of the Judicial Branch, denounces how that institution was a fundamental ally of Daniel Ortega in the repression of the last four years and states that “it is not easy” to denounce because in the FSLN they do not forgive the people they consider “traitors”, but says that she decided to go into exile because she could not “be an accomplice” of so many terrible acts.
Tell me about your decision to leave that position that you had and decided to seek exile in the United States?
I tell you it was not an easy decision; it was not a simple decision. Because I come from a very Sandinista family, very, very Sandinista. A grandfather who is an historic collaborator, and grandmother who is a mother of heroes and martyrs, I have uncles who were killed in action, the name of the street in my neighborhood bears the name of my uncle, there is a monument in my uncle´s name. That famous little tank you see in the entrance to Jinotega, it was an uncle of mine who was killed there. And I always participated in every sphere of the party.
Since they have these structures within the party, from when I was very young I was a student of the UNAN, I graduated with my major. At that time, I participated in the marches for the 6%[1]. Then I participated in the organizations of the Front, I was even part of the CPC[2] in my neighborhood. So, when you have that structure, and you have always been with people from the Front, and suddenly I see what they did in 2018, that had a big impact on me. Things change, I see the things that are bad, and since that time I am seeing that… maybe it is not so much that they were not doing things bad until then, but that I opened my eyes, let´s say it like that, I opened my eyes, and I saw that they were worse.
So slowly I arrived at the conclusion that I could not continue participating or be a participant in the system. So, I made the decision to go into exile. In fact, I did not resign [from her post in the Judicial Branch], I lost the 17 years that I had worked, I did not ask for my severance pay. I left through a blind spot [on the border]. I didn´t even leave the country in a legal manner, because I was afraid that they would stop me. Many officials have been stopped [from leaving].
You, during the time you served a public function, were you able to confirm all those denouncements of corruption, human rights violations, that different activists and organizations have been making?
It is unfortunate but yes.
For example?
For example, the telephone calls for certain cases, the phone calls
What did that consist in, specifically?
For example, there is a case against “x” person, so even before the process begins, they call the judge so that he might proceed in a certain way, interference and independence. There are many judges who are well known who the litigating lawyers or the people themselves know who to go to, which ones will receive payments to decide the case a certain way.
What other things were you able to see in the Judicial Branch that could have been scandalous and that indicated that they did not correspond to the principles that supposedly the Sandinista Front preached?
What did I see that was scandalous? That they would use us public servants to fill theatres when Laureano[3] would sing, to be doing the house to house visits during COVID when we had no preparation [to do so], when they made us go to the marches, pro COVID, anti-COVID, Pro Evo Morales, against the priests, they made us sign lists that said we wanted Mons. Silvio Báez removed. These were not our functions, they did not have to make us participate in all of that.
Why did you do it?
Look. What did we do it? To make a first point, and I know you question a lot why we put up with that. But we had needs. We have families. That is the first part. The second is fear. It makes you afraid. Suddenly you see there, it is all interconnected, they are all your friends, your fellow workers, and all of a sudden you are going to go against all of that? It is difficult. I was telling someone that it is always easier for the person who is on the other corner of the street than it is for someone on this side of the street to get out.
It is difficult. And we did it. Some do so out of conviction because they really do believe. Others do so to maintain their job. Others of us did it out of fear. Need, fear.
Do you feel that the Sandinista Front has turned itself into a dangerous or terrorist party, as several opposition figures have said? Have you seen at some time what has been being denounced, that is, that public institutions were made available to paramilitaries. In fact, withing the Judicial Branch it was questioned a lot that supposedly there were paramilitaries who belonged to the institution. They were part of the payroll of the institution.
Yes, yes there were. Look, the Juve[4] also functioned there. There also functioned, well how can I explain it to you? There are the CLSs, Sandinista Leadership Councils. From them came the people, yes, some voluntarily and others not so voluntarily, but out of them came groups, people who they said patrolled the streets, took care of the streets for what happened in April. They later turned into spies of their neighbors, of their own fellow workers. That people from the Judicial Branch, since they had everything on their facebook, they would take screen shots of what their fellow workers were publishing, that was used to have many witness, to justify many witnesses of fellow workers.
Did they participate? Yes, they did participate. Yes, there were groups, and they collaborated, They provided fuel, pickup trucks, yes. And I myself, in addition to coming from a very Sandinista family, I am the niece of a former political prisoner Roberto Cruz, and I saw everything that happened to Don Roberto, the accusations that they charged my uncle with. He is a little younger than I, a couple of years younger than me. I was raised with him more as a brother than an uncle. So suddenly they accused him of everything. And they tortured him. They tortured him. I saw physically the things that they had done to him- a broken rib, dislocated arm, the bruises on his body, and how was I going to say that that was not torture?
So when all of that experience, united to the massive firings that happened to all those who participated in marches, or had published something on their facebook page, and for that they had been fired, so it fills you with more fear, more alarm. And so, one thinks when is this going to happen to me? Myself with my principles, I could not find myself there, I saw it all as bad, and so I said to myself that I should no longer be in that place.
They put more pressure on us, demanded more actions on our part, they had us do some long hikes, all the marches and hikes, it was now like a job, every Saturday. We were people prayering, we were in the rotundas, I was in the rotundas, I was a person who prayed there[5], I was in all the marches. It was too much. And for what? To fawn over what? To show what?
Once, at one time I said to someone, to one of the leaders, why show all of this? And he said that the Frente cannot lose the streets. We have to keep the streets. And that was their vision, and we were the instruments, we were part of the game of the big ones, they needed the streets , and we were there, because if we didn´t, they would fire us. Simply put, that is how it was.
[1] Refers to 6% of the national budget that by constitutional mandate has to be used to finance higher education, which was challenged by the government in the 1990s.
[2] Citizen Power Committees FSLN structure at neighborhood level
[3] Son of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo who studied opera
[4] Refers to the Juventud Sandinista or Sandinista Youth
[5] Since the rotundas or traffic circles were taken over by demonstrators, at one point Rosario had them taken over by Sandinistas and set up statues to the Virgin Mary in each one, and bused people in who supposedly were “praying”.