Tifany Roberts is a Nicaraguan journalist for UNIVISION who is very well connected in both Nicaragua and the United States. She broke the news to the world about the release of 222 political prisoners in the early morning of Feb 9th through a tweet that went around the world. This interview on a program- Bacanalnica – which deals with serious topics, but peppered with light hearted jokes, provides the back story to that tweet. It is important to read Daniel Ortega´s version first to understand some of her references, as she takes apart his version piece by piece.
She talks about the evidence for negotiations with the US for a few months before their release, including the involvement of Chris Dodd. She addresses the situation around Bishop Álvarez, why all the opposition figures in exile were in Washington when the political prisoners were released. She also has suggestions for how to provide help to these Nicaraguans and others who have asylum or migration problems. She provides information not seen in other reports.
Interview by Manuel Díaz and Juan Carlos Ampie in Bacanalnica
Feb 14, 2023
We invited the person who is very well informed about what happened, because she was the one who broke the news about what was happening to the rest of Nicaragua. We are talking about Tifani Roberts., a journalist of UNIVISION, a Nicaraguan from Granada- she will hit me if I don´t mention that she is from Granada, a great friend of ours and the program, and that is why we invited her to talk about this.
You are going to learn things that no one else knows. Yes, we are going to talk about things that no one else knows, she even clarified something for me which I was clear about
[break before the interview to review the news stories most read and watched in the last 24 hours. Then they go into some banter back and forth joking about Valentine´s day]
Manuel: OK, first, 4 days ago, Feb 9, 2023 which will be remembered by many as the day of exile, and that day of exile started officially as a tweet by my Aunt Tifani at around 7am
Tifani: At exactly 7am.
Juan Carlos: It was not the night before that you said you put up something, Tifani?
Tifani: I was waiting for it to turn exactly 7am.
Manuel: Ah, there you just created a problem for yourself.
TIfani: No, I knew they were in the air, I knew what was going on, but I could not tweet about it.
Manuel: Ok, and now comes the part which is why I say you created a problem for yourself. Tell us how you knew those people were in the air, if supposedly no one knew it.
Tifani: No, no, no, everything has a context, Manuel. For some time, we knew something was happening. We even have to go back to December. Because in December they completely changed the way they treated the prisoners. 180 degree change. They allowed them to make calls, video calls, not just in the sense of the visits, but they let them – I don´t know if you know, surely you do, that in the mornings the relatives would arrive to give them water, Gatorade, orange juice, and they would receive it. And suddenly in December they started to receive everything from them, even mattresses, mattress covers, blankets, whatever they wanted, they would receive it. So, it was obvious something was comin. And in January it continued. It wasn´t because all of a sudden they got the spirit of Christmas. That behavior continued through January.
And there were a lot of rumors that they were talking, it was not known with who, but since then there were a series of rumors. The challenge for me was to try to distinguish between what was mud and what was water, and try to find out what was going on. But the fact that something was going on for me was clear for a month, two months, and for a couple of people who I was in communication with.
Manuel: And you are not going to tell us names?
Tifani: No, I cannot tell you names, and you know that. But I can tell you that in the circle that I created there were some relatives of political prisoners to confirm things with. So, I have a good relationship with them as sources, but I have been in communication with them for years, since they were arrested. So that relationship with sources has been maintained.
And so I started knocking on doors, of people who I knew that if there were negotiations, they would be aware of them, both inside and out of Nicaragua.
Juan Carlos: so..no, go ahead.
Tifani: …So the night before I got information that those who were under house arrest were taken to El Chipote[1]. Hmmm, in addition it was all of them. Cristiana[2] also? Yes, Cristiana. So that was the first alarm that something was happening in a positive sense. Because then I spoke with someone, one of the relatives of these people under house arrest, who told me they took them away well dressed.
In addition, they were treating them with kid gloves. If we go back and recall Chano Aguirre[3], Francisco Aguirre Sacasa[4], when they took them out of house arrest, it was a punishment, because they found they had cell phones. And so they put them back in jail. This was not like that. They were treating them with kid gloves. “Will you accompany us please?”
So once you see the attitude of the officials who are taking these people back to El Chipote, you realize that something is going on there, that something is going to happen. And so it is like, “Uh huh, well dressed?” So you begin to speculate. Well, they are preparing them for a show, right?
They are taking them all well dressed, treating them with kid gloves, and they told them that they were not going to sleep in El Chipote. That they were just going to be there for a few hours. I had some contradictory information about how long they were going to be there.
So I started to call that little circle, “what do you know, what do you know,” and more or less they are saying the same. Then I became aware, and I do not know whether everyone realized it, but that from the previous night the National Assembly had called for a meeting early in the morning. But I was thinking…
Manuel: But the meeting was at 9am. But how did you get to 7am?
Tifani: Calm down, follow the movie here. So it was about 1am Managua time, I get a message from one of these sources that says, “They are all seated eating a snack.” At that point, do you think Manuel that I am going to sleep? You know I cannot sleep, right?
So at that point I am imaging that Cristiana with Medardo Mairena[5], all of them in a room eating a snack, and also I was getting information from the provinces that they were bringing prisoners in from the provinces. I was getting that information as well. So there were too many variables in this equation.
You know something is happening, and you are 100% sure that the next day something is going to happen. You have all these people dressed up in El Chipote, so I did not sleep. And 3 to four hours went by, and it was just after 6am that they tell me that they are in the airport. And in my logic I thought they were going to Costa Rica, like they did with the President of Honduras[6], it was easier to dump them in Costa Rica, and I was speculating in my head.
So, the source tells me that they are in the airport. So, it was either a commercial flight or a private one. It was a private one. So, I ask are they going north or south? They are going north.
Manuel: So, who is responding to your question, a relative? Just tell me the category of the person. Someone from the government, or the family?
Tifani: The families did not know. No one from the families knew. No one, so now I am going to tell you. I can´t tell you but..
Manuel: Ok, pardon me.
Tifani: So, I was told at 6:35 that it has taken off. I said are they going to Miami? They responded, “No, Miami is very ugly.” It could be that the conversation I was having was in English. So I began to think in official terms, and so I asked DC?, and they said yes. And so I asked if I could publish this, and they told me to wait until the flight had left the national air space.
Oh my God. So, I was sitting there like this [with phone in hand], in my dark room, like this [finger ready to send tweet]. I had to wait 20 minutes. So, from so much traveling I know that if you go north you have to go from Managua, to pass into Honduras [by plane] it takes at least 15 minutes, 5 minutes grace period, so a minimum of 20 minutes. So, I ask if I can publish it at 7am, and they said yes you can publish it at 7am.
So in that 20 minute period I only made one call, to a relative who did not know, so I said this and that is happening, the plane is in the air, that it is going to Washington, that was the only person that I told, who was a relative. He was the only relative that I could trust was going to keep the secret, because the secret had to be kept for the safety of the prisoners. In other words, it was not my secret, but the secret of someone else, and so the security measures had to be followed. Besides I thought what could they do to them in the air, but if they sent them back because of me?
So, I waited until exactly 7am. And then I hit it and it went. And I got a tsunami of messages after that. I am going to look that tweet up, but I am sure it was sent exactly at 7am. No, I am not going to find it, it is too far back. But that is how it went.
Now about the exile, we already knew that they had 3 ½ hours, between the time they left and before they landed in Washington, to do the trick that they did to justify their departure. Even the night before, in the traffic of messages that I had, we were exchanging certain stories of the government that were known, from “sapos”[7], who were already announcing that tomorrow was going to be an important day. So it was like they have 4 hours to justify this departure to their own people. I think it even took the people of the US government by surprise.
[Manuel finds Tifani´s tweet and shares a screen shot of it]
Tifani: What time was that?
Manuel: 7:02am
Tifani: It took me two minutes to write exactly what I wanted to say, and I wanted to say more but it would not let me, so I had to remove a ton of information. I had more information than that.
And 213 I don`t know why it said that, I was going to put 223 people on my list, because I had Álvarez[8] on my list, so I was going to put 223 but that was an early morning typo. But the intention was to put 223.
Manuel: and that 213 you communicated also in whatsapp, or just on twitter?
Tifani: No, I copied and pasted. I wrote it in WORD, in my computer, and then copied and pasted, copied and pasted.
Manuel: The thing is that they informed me 10 minutes before, no, at 6:40 something, that they were on their way in a plane, and I am realizing now that it may have been you who told the person who told me, but it was before your tweet. Because I got up and…
Tifani: No, before that tweet I only spoke with one person, and I am sure that person did not tell anyone.
Manuel: Ok, so who knows where it came from that they told me also that it was 213 people, but it was 6:40 something in the morning. Some day we are going to hear the true full story with full names, data on who did what, when, and even more, …and now we can make the transition to the next stage of this interview.
Juan Carlos: I want to ask something of Tifani first. It is clear that there was a negotiation at some point to get to this point. But once their departure is carried out, both Nicaragua and the US, and even COSEP, insist that this was a unilateral decision of the regime of Nicaragua. Why?
Tifani: The regime wants that to be the narrative, because the United States has not given them anything in exchange. So far they have not given them anything in exchange. There is no quid pro quo here. What you have here is the US saying to the government, let´s negotiate, but before beginning to negotiate you have to release these people. So the government, understanding that it has to do so, throws in the end the jolt of banishment. That was a blow. That was a late blow.
Look at what the little paper said. They printed out 300 copies of it and they gave it to them, and it said “I, _____, accept to voluntarily go to the United States, in accordance with the provisions of the law.” That was it. Nothing else. In the United States, to avoid their Marielito[9] where they sent all those prisoners, I don`t know if Mariel is the reference point, but that is a thought of mine, but the US basically said two things: first, I need the list of who you are going to send me, so they did not stick in drug traffickers, criminals, etc, like they did in Mariel
Manuel: like Chino Enoc[10]
Tifani: So first I [the US] have to approve the list, they have the right to veto people, and secondly they have to come of their own will. You have to tell them that they are going to the US, and they have to accept that. It has to be of their own will, no one can be forced to come. So those were the two requirements. But the Government had them a long time before, so don´t come to me with stories that Rosario all of a sudden got the idea to say to Sullivan[11], hey give me a ride. No..- all these things were being worked on since December. All the policy, they way they treated them, changed in December. I was saying, what is happening? Something is going on, something is going to happen. So this has been coming for some time.
I think Christopher Dodd has a lot to do with this. Do you know who Christopher Dodd is? If you don´t, look him up. Christopher Dodd is a very close “brother” to Joe Biden. And Christopher Dodd is who came to free- not to free- but to take Hasenfus. You remember him?
Manuel: the only US citizen who came out in the war of aggression of the US against Nicaragua, and he was not a soldier, but a pilot
Tifani: Christopher Dodd and Jesse Jackson were the two Congressmen at that time who came to Nicaragua and were the bridge with the government of the United States and they were friendly with Ortega. So, for me the fact that they nominated Christopher Dodd in October, in October with the Summit of the Americas, they name him for that. And he was in the hotel in Washington [where the political prisoners were housed]. He was part of the reception committee. In October Biden names Christopher Dodd Special Delegate to Latin America and he sends him to talk with Ortega.
There is the photo of Hasenfus above, see [looking at her computer screen]. No, that is a picture of the campaign. I will send you a picture of Hasenfus to your whatsapp.
Juan Carlos: So, the US made a concession to the regime to agree to say that it was a unilateral decision [of Ortega]?
Tifani: No, the United States doesn´t care what Ortega says. I don´t think the US is interested in what Ortega says or doesn’t say, I don´t think it is a concession, he can say whatever he wants. Because once they landed in DC the discourse was, “we did it”. We did it. That was the discourse there from all the State department officials, even Sullivan, on the plane there were high level officials from the State Department. It was obvious that the State Department was on top of this situation, and it was not a situation of asking for a ride. That makes me laugh.
The attitude of the State Department was that we did it, how good it is to see you free, that was part of their narrative. On the official level it was different, it is true that they did not give Ortega anything. So from now on, it does appear that there will be negotiations, Blinken[12] was clear when he said this is going to continue, something like that, and from now on, obviously without the prisoners, but now [Bishop] Álvarez is in the midst of it.
Bishop Álvarez is like the joker, he ruined his plan[13]. But it is true that the jolt of [revoking] their nationality[14], that was Ortega and Rosario looking for a way to punish them at the last minute, so they would not declare it as a victory.
Manuel: But in any case it seems to me, the movement around the nationality is despicable, because they gave them 10 year passports, which in the end is the only way to truly punish them by taking away their nationality.
Tifani: Yes, at the door of the plane they gave them their passports. Yes, it is stupid, I do not understand it.
Manuel: And even this thing about the fact that it occurred them to ask [the ambassador] to give them a ride, it is one of two options. They either think so little of their own people, they think they are going to swallow that explanation that there was no negotiation, or they don´t really care what people think.
Juan Carlos: It is a mixture of both things.
Manuel: Because no one really believes that it occurred to them to ask to give them a ride, that it was improvised in the moment[15]…
Tifani: I think it does not matter what they might say, all the people that follow him believe him, and give him their vote of trust. It did stand out to me that he gave Rosario credit for being the person that had the idea. Completely unnecessary to mention that Rosario mentioned it to me [i.e.Ortega], and I said, well, call him [the ambassador] then. A detail that has absolutely nothing to do with this, it is inconsequential, that the fact that he mentioned it, that is very interesting.
Juan Carlos: It seems to me that this was a way of protecting himself. If this causes a bad reaction in the base to me, this is my lifesaver, because this is something she came up with.
Tifani: I don´t think so. His base will follow him to their deaths. At this point his base has a 100% belief in that man, they love him, he is a god to them. But it does stand out to me that he mentions her as if trying to include her. That stood out for me, in that sense.
Manuel: OK, let´s move to the part where I wrote a little article where I chastised – I like that word – the opposition leaders that appear in the photo with those who were banished, all the opposition leaders
Tifani: and Juan Carlos, what was your uncle Carlos Fernando[16] doing in Washington?
Manuel: Wait, I have two sticky points there. All those opposition leaders appearing in the photo, what happened to the press conference? I understand that Thursday that is too soon, then the weekend everyone is resting, but then Monday comes and I am awaiting the press conference, and nothing. And today I woke up excited about a press conference and I go to look for it, and it is a press conference of relatives of people who are still political prisoners in Nicaragua. It is very valid that that campaign should begin, because well he [Ortega] says that some of them the United States would not accept [as political prisoners]. Now distrusting the Comandante is complicated, but I am going to distrust him, but this is something that is going to continue, and until he removes them all from prison we will not know.
But what happened to these people who were there and have not said anything? Should we accept as a coincidence that they were there and decided to go by and greet them? It is obvious that there is group of people who are very VIP who were informed in advance about this entire process.
Tifani: I do not agree with you. That is not true. There is no way. I have a different view of this. It is close but not the same.
Manuel: But on the other hand, how is it possible to have so many people there, and so many people from the press, and why did they not ask Eliseo[17], how did you end up here at the hotel? Who told you and what magic did you do to be able to get here?
Tifani: Let´s see, listen, The Interamerican Dialogue of Manuel Orozco organized a talk and he invited all of them. That was why they were there, that was what they were there for. So there were a lot of people from this Monteverde group
Manuel: Does that Monteverde group exist?
Tifani: Yes, because I know three people who have talked about that issue. That is whole other program, please, I don´t have time for that today. I learned about that because someone that I know, who is a relative of political prisoners, mentioned it first, then when I was in Costa Rica I met two people who were there, and I had the opportunity to talk to someone who more or less knows about it and clarified for me, and gave me the opportunity to understand a little more. But that is another program.
Now many of them [at the conference] were from this group. Now I do not know whether all the people there are from this Monteverde Movement or not, I do not know, what I do know is that they are from the entire spectrum, right, left, and center, and they were all invited by Manuel Orozco to this forum, it was not a forum, it had some name in English they were calling it. And they had been there for some two days.
None of them knew about this.
Manuel: Not even Manuel [Orozco, Director of Interamerican Dialogue event]?
Tifani: No one. Because there is no way to have kept the secret if someone would have known. There is no way. Never, this had to be hermetically sealed. There is no way.
Now, who is behind organizing and financing who came to Manuel and said, “hey organize this”? That I do not know, whether there were interests behind the scene to say we want you to organize this in these days. But I also do not believe that they knew that far in advance about the date of Feb 9th, and Manuel organized this some time ago. So there are a lot of little things there that could be, and could not be [true]. The coincidences are enormous, but I can assure you, Manuel, that no one knew beforehand, because if they did, there is no way that they would not have talked about it to everyone.
Manuel: Listening to what you just said, it makes sense. Today I was inspired to look up an article by Expediente Público and they ask how is it that Race and Equality found out about this, because they were called and told to have something ready, and I said there is the point, it is the same thing, because they called them on the very same day to tell them that it was Nicas who were arriving. So no one knew [beforehand].
Tifani: No one, I think that you have to take into account how far in advance the people in Washington planned this event of the Interamerican Dialogue, because if they organized it a month ago, there was no way that they would have known. Because that date [Feb 9th] was set now, in other words, I don´t believe that they knew they were going to release the prisoners on Feb 9th back then.
Juan Carlos: If it was a unilateral decision of Ortega they did not know on what date they would be released.
Tifani: But the US did not know. In fact, the passports are dated Friday Feb 4th, which was the previous Friday, and so obviously it was a decision, I don´t know, it was 200 and some passports. So to have that much movement and no one knew about it, the truth is they were able to do it.
Manuel: I saw Porras[18] on Channel 4 talking about the logistics of the affair,
Tifani: So you are one of the 5 people that watch Channel 4? So what did he say, because that is one channel I do not watch. My journalistic interest does not go that far.
Manuel: That they brought people together from various institutions and they said to them, you are going to be in charge of logistics, you are going to be in charge of the laws, you are going to – completely oblivious to the fact that what they are saying is a flagrant violation of the independency of the branches of government which is supposed to exist, because they called them in, sat them down, and said, you are going to be in charge of passing a law which will say this and that and will take effect on such and such a day,
Juan Carlos: starting on such and such a day.
Tifani: even retroactive. I have not been able to talk to anyone, well, I have talked to a lot of people, but none of them were able to see Rolando Álvarez in the airport, no one saw him, so for me, they never even took him to the airport.
Manuel: In other words, you distrust the version of the Comandante that he was about to get on the plane and at the last minute decided he was not going to board the plane?
Tifani: No, because no one saw him. Buses took the people to the airport. And there was a bunch of pickup trucks there when the buses arrived, and they thought that a bunch of police were going to get out of the pickup trucks, but they did not. They were the prisoners from the Provinces who were in those trucks. But there was a lot of them. And so they began to get out of the trucks, and that is when they brought out that paper [to sign], and no one ever saw Álvarez. Never. This Bishop never left his home.
Now take the following into account. It was a surprise to all those prisoners that they were being taken to the United States. The Bishop was not surprised, the Bishop had been given the offer some weeks ago when the Cardinal arrived to tell him to go. It was not a new question [for him]. It was something he had already decided months ago, that he was not going to leave. It is not like they showed up and he could not decide whether to leave or not. It is clear and he took a position weeks ago, and they are not moving him from that. And I do believe that he asked to talk to the Episcopal Conference, because he does respond to them, they have “obedience” that they owe, when they become priests they have obedience as one of their vows, when you think of obedience with Álvarez, he is a noise maker, but he is a strategist, and knows what he is doing.
Juan Carlos: Now Tifani, many people, and I would include myself, are disconcerted with some people who were included in the group that went to the United States, for example, Chino Enoc, Roberto Larios[19] and other people associated with the regime, and even up until very recently. How do they fit in this calculation?
Tifani: I think Daniel Ortega sent all the people in La Modelo[20] and El Chipote. And the United States saw some 500.
Juan Carlos: But the United States did not know who these people were?
Tifani: The United States accepted them, of course they accepted them. They consider them political prisoners. The United States will have its reasons for having accepted them. They were going to send to the United States three planeloads of people, but the United States went through them one by one
Juan Carlos: They already had profiles of each one, files on each one, they knew who they were, what they had done.
Tifani: Yes, every time there was a new prisoner, they would note down, they are on the northern highway, everything. Of course, and I also imagine, you don´t know whether the relatives of Chino Enoc, of Robero Larios have made denouncements, have relatives in the US, you don´t know what movement there has been there, we do not know exactly what they have been accused of, we don´t know anything, so I don´t have enough information to be able to say, but if the United States accepted them, then it was because they were political prisoners.
[They joke about no one wanting to take Chino Enoc and he wanting to stay in the hotel longer than the 3 days they provided him]
Tifani: I tried to send a message to one of the ex-Sandinistas, and they sent me away. Nothing, like they were allergic [to me]. Still being rude. But that is their right. They do not like me. I don´t know why they do not like me. I am such a good person.
Manuel: but they are going to have to get rid of that Sandinista arrogance.
Tifani: I think, and correctly, because if I spent the last 15 years of my life loyal to a murderous regime, so I come here and I am immediately defensive, wondering who wants to do me harm. So I hide from them [if I were them]. Because everyone knows who they were and what they did. In other words, Chino Enoc was a paramilitary, how many people would that man have killed? So it is difficult to see the impunity….
Juan Carlos: So what can people do who want to help those who were banished, because obviously the people who are most public maybe studied in the United States, have relatives, a social base here, Juan Sebastian, Felix, those people have more tools for that transition that is going to take place now. But among that group are people who probably had their first experience of getting on a plane, who do not speak English, who do not have relatives here, is there a system to support them, help them get installed in the United States, or to continue on to Spain? I imagine that because of the language Spain might be more attractive for many of them.
Manuel: I have some information. I am part of the group in Texas, and everyone got involved right away, that is why I was saying only Chino Enoc and some 3 to 4 people are left in the hotel.
Tifani: Look there are two things here. In the last month we have heard about sponsors. Here in this case there is no need for sponsors. They have already been given humanitarian parole. What they need is like one person who can be their contact person. For example, let´s suppose Juan Carlos you came in on that plane, so you go to wherever you are going, any state, and the State Department wants to know how they are going to contact you. So, Tifani Roberts signs up and says I am going to be his contact person. So, I sign up as your contact person, not as your sponsor, I am simply the contact person for you for the State Dept. That is what was needed. Because they had so many people arriving who had nothing. So, who will become the contact person for these people.
And the people who were receiving them on this side did not understand that they only needed to put down their name and address, and to keep in contact with these people, to be someone they knew, so that at that time they needed to contact the person they would know how to do so.
In terms of what Manuel said about how to help, there are organizations, particularly there is an organization in California, her name is Ada Valiente, she and her husband are pastors of an Evangelical church in Los Angeles, she is Nicaraguan, and I know of the work that she has been doing since 2018 to help all Nicaraguans and Central Americans too in their asylum process. She has become an expert in taking those minors who have been coming by the hand. She is a pastor, a Nicaraguan, who knows the migration system very well, and she is well connected to all the organizations that finance what she does. So, all the people that ask me, I put them in contact with her, Ada Valiente. And she is in close contact with the people in Texas too, that Manuel knows, and she had a bunch of people deployed in the hotel, taking down names and notes. I was even called yesterday by someone who collaborates and works with organizations in Europe who provide scholarships, and I already put them in contact with Ada. I send everyone to Ada, because she knows the system, and this is something that she does everyday. She helps and helps and helps, and knows the system. So, look her up.
Manuel: She appears as Pastora Ada Valiente in facebook….
[1] El Chipote is Judicial Support Office, jail famous for torture
[2] Cristiana Chamorro, Director of Violeta Barrios Chamorro Foundation, daughter of former president Violeta Barrios, under house arrest.
[3] Former president of COSEP under house arrest but then sent back to El Chipote
[4] Former Foreign Minister under Arnoldo Alemán, also Nicaraguan Ambassador to the US
[5] Peasant leader of the anticanal movement and also presidential candidate in 2021
[6] When Mel Zelaya was deposed in a coup in June 2009 he was put on a plane for Costa Rica
[7] Literally frogs, but term used for government infiltrators on social media
[8] Bishop Álvarez of Matagalpa, who refused to get on the plane
[9] Refers to the exodus of Cubans from the port of Mariel in 1980 where the US accused Castro of sending criminals to the US instead of political prisoners
[10] Sandinista paramilitary who Ortega jailed when he spoke against the leadership of Rosario Murillo. He actually ended up on the list and was accepted in the US with this group, to the consternation of a lot of the opposition.
[11] Kevin Sullivan is the US Ambassador to Nicaragua
[12] Anthony Blinken, US Secretary of State
[13] He refused to get on the plane
[14] Ortega revoked the citizenship of all the political prisoners released and also of 94 other people who had expressed opposition to the government.
[15] Refers to Ortega´s version of events where he claims Rosario heard US Ambassador was going to Washington so suggested that he take the political prisoners with him.
[16] Carlos Fernando Chamorro, Director of Confidencial and TV Programs Esta Noche and Esta Semana where Juan Carlos worked until recently
[17] Eliseo Nuñez, an opposition figure in exile.
[18] Gustavo Porras, President of the National Assembly
[19] Until very recently spokesperson for the Supreme Court who was recently jailed by the dictatorship
[20] Main penitentiary in Tipitapa just outside of Managua