More and more opposition leaders in Nicaragua arrested

In Nicaragua, President Ortega is increasing the pressure on the opposition. On Sunday, five more opposition leaders were arrested, bringing the total number of arrests since the beginning of this month to twelve.

The wave of arrests comes months before a scheduled ballot on November 7. According to the opposition, no one is safe anymore and members are arrested one by one. “This is not a transition to a dictatorship, this is a dictatorship,” said former general and dissident Hugo Torres, shortly before he was arrested himself.

According to Torres, a former ally of the president, the regime of 75-year-old Ortega is “more stifling” than that of dictator Anastasio Somoza, who was ousted by Ortega’s socialist party in the late 1970s. The latter then led the country until 1990. He became president again in 2007, after three unsuccessful attempts, and he has been in power ever since.

At least four potential opponents of Ortega have been arrested in recent days. Apart from that, many critics and opponents are trapped in the Central American country. According to the left-wing opposition party Unamos, Ortega has betrayed his ideals. Ortega’s supporters say the arrests merely enforce the law, which prohibits election candidates from receiving financial aid from abroad and disseminating information the government believes is false.

Ortega hopes to be elected to a fourth term in November. Its popularity has declined since 2018. In that year he cracked down on protests against his rule, resulting in hundreds of deaths. The West has imposed sanctions because Ortega is undermining democracy. Human rights groups argue that Ortega has killed all democratic institutions since he came to power fourteen years ago.

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