By: Shehzeen Alam
Nicaragua is going through a period of political turmoil and authoritarian rule, with scheduled elections in November 2021. As a precursor to elections, Daniel Ortega, who has been ruling Nicaragua since 2007, stated that his administration was arresting and prosecuting criminals who are believed to have been plotting a coup d'etat against him. His administration has previously been known to file money laundering, tax, and other criminal charges to raid groups it disagrees with.
On the 12th of August, Nicaraguan police raided the office of the country's main newspaper, La Prensa, as they claimed they were investigating money laundering and fraud.
The recent police raid of La Prensa is following a long crackdown by the current Nicaraguan government against its political rivals. La Prensa has been the country's only opposition newspaper with a print edition since 2019. La Prensa has been very critical in their articles concerning the current president referring to him as a ‘dictator’ after he used the police and paramilitary groups to crush a nationwide civil uprising demanding his resignation in 2018, where 326 people died.
La Prensa is owned by the family of Cristiana Chamorro, Nicaragua’s most popular opposition leader. Recently, the newspaper reported that it would only be publishing online content moving forward as the authorities had impounded their ink and paper, resulting in a suspension in the printing of the paper edition.
Pro-government outlets reported with counter statements implying that the newspaper had no reason to halt the print version while releasing images of the newspaper’s warehouse, although the La Prensa staff have continued to insist that there was not enough paper in the warehouse to print even one edition.
Cristiana Chamorro, daughter of the former Nicaraguan president and vice-president of La Prensa, was expected to run in the November 2021 government elections, however, in June she was detained and barred from running or holding public office. A court in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, says this is due to what they term ‘abusive management and laundering of money, property, and assets’.
Christina's brother, Pedro Joaquin was also detained, while her older brother, prominent Daniel Ortega critic, fled abroad. Ortega’s government has arrested more than thirty opposition leaders including several challengers for the presidency.
Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State said on Twitter: “Arbitrarily banning opposition leader [Chamorro] reflects Ortega’s fear of free and fair elections. Nicaraguans deserve real democracy.”
Nicaraguan citizens are predicting that in the coming near future until the elections take place, this state of affairs will likely escalate and continue as the Ortega administration continues to emit possible opposition candidates to maintain power and control of the country.
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