The Nicaraguan government published photos on Sunday of historic Sandinista commander Bayardo Arce after his children denounced the forced disappearance of the former ally of President Daniel Ortega, who was convicted on corruption charges. Bayardo Arce, Ortega’s former economic adviser, was sentenced in January to an unspecified penalty by Nicaraguan authorities after being jailed in late July 2025.
His children had denounced Arce’s alleged forced disappearance and feared he could die in custody and in isolation, so they requested proof that he was still alive from the Nicaraguan government. The penitentiary system showed on Sunday, “at public request,” seven photos of Bayardo Arce alongside his brother Gerardo Arce Castaño.
The photos, published by the pro-government newspaper el19digital.com, were taken last Friday, according to a statement from the Interior Ministry accompanying the images, which also show a table with food and bottles of water. “Any other idea or publication clearly and irresponsibly reflects an intention to discredit and tarnish the National Penitentiary System,” the statement added.
Bayardo Arce is the third member of the old guard of the former guerrilla Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN, in power) to fall out of favor with the government in Nicaragua. According to exiled Nicaraguan opposition figures, the purge is being directed by co-president Rosario Murillo with Ortega’s approval, her husband, in order to guarantee the succession.
A court in Managua found Bayardo Arce guilty of the crime of “money laundering in the form of defrauding the state.” According to the accusation, he orchestrated a “structured scheme” involving the use of “funds of illicit origin” totaling nearly $3 billion through tax evasion using commercial companies and bank accounts.
Bayardo Arce and Daniel Ortega were comrades in the armed struggle against dictator Anastasio Somoza, who was overthrown in 1979 with the triumph of the Sandinista revolution. Ortega, 80, governed Nicaragua in the 1980s. After several years in opposition, he has remained in power since 2007 following elections questioned by the international community.
