Ahead of elections, Nicaraguan police arrest eighth opponent in recent days
Managua, Jun 12 (EFE).- The Nicaraguan police on Saturday night said it had arrested opposition leader Daysi Tamara Dávila Rivas under the accusation of “inciting foreign interference in internal affairs” and “requesting military interventions” against the government headed by Daniel Ortega.
The arrest of Dávila Rivas, a member of the political council of the opposition Blue and White National Unity, is the eighth carried out by the National Police against dissidents in recent days, including four opposition presidential candidates.
In a statement, the police indicated that Dávila Rivas, daughter of the late retired colonel Irvin Dávila, is being investigated “for carrying out acts that undermine independence, sovereignty, and self-determination, inciting foreign interference in internal affairs, and requesting military interventions.”
Also for “organizing with financing from foreign powers to carry out acts of terrorism and destabilization, propose and manage economic, commercial and financial operations blockades against the country and its institutions.”
And for “demanding, exalting and applauding the imposition of sanctions against the State of Nicaragua and its citizens, and injuring the supreme interests of the nation,” according to the information.
The National Unity denounced Dávila Rivas’ arrest in the presence of her five-year-old daughter at her home in Managua, which was raided.
With less than five months until the elections in Nicaragua on Nov. 7, in which Ortega seeks re-election, several opposition politicians have been arrested, including four candidates for the presidency.
The police, led by Ortega’s brother-in-law Francisco Díaz, is holding four opposition presidential hopefuls: Cristiana Chamorro, Arturo Cruz, Félix Maradiaga and Juan Sebastián Chamorro García.
Former head of the Superior Council for Private Enterprise José Adán Aguerri, former vice chancellor José Pallais, opposition activist Violeta Granera and two other former collaborators of an NGO have also been arrested in the past week on various charges.
Ortega, 75, who returned to power in 2007 and has governed since 2017 together with his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, is running for the presidency for the eighth time.
The leader, branded a “dictator” by the United States, is in his second term as president, after coordinating a governing board from 1979 to 1985 and presiding over the country for the first time from 1985 to 1990. EFE
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