Between 15 and 20 people—including former mayors and ex-military officers—were arrested in Nicaragua over the weekend for alleged political reasons, opposition figures and exile-based media outlets reported on Sunday. President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice-President Rosario Murillo, have tightened their grip on Nicaraguan society since the 2018 opposition protests they label a Washington-backed coup attempt. The crackdown left more than 300 dead, according to the UN.
The arrests took place in northern towns between Saturday and Sunday, according to the exile outlets 100% Noticias, Confidencial, and La Prensa, as well as opposition political organizations. Among those detained are Noel Moreno, former mayor of San Sebastián de Yalí, and Óscar Gadea, former mayor of Santa María de Pantasma—both from the now-banned Citizens for Liberty (CxL) party—Confidencial reported. The outlet also noted other CxL supporters were arrested.
100% Noticias, which cited “at least fifteen detainees,” added that Víctor Fornos, another former mayor of San Sebastián de Yalí from the Constitutional Liberal Party, was also taken into custody. “We demand the immediate release of our former municipal officials who were kidnapped yesterday in an outrageous assault on Nicaraguans’ freedom by police serving Sandinismo,” Citizens for Liberty wrote on social media.
Among the ex-military personnel detained is Ronald Leiva Silva, a former lieutenant colonel and former chief of the Defense Information Directorate (DIP) in Matagalpa during the administration of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997), the media reported. La Prensa said the raids resulted in about 20 arrests and came three days after the detention of retired General Álvaro Baltodano Cantarero, a former Ortega ally.
Ortega, a 79-year-old ex-guerrilla who first governed in the 1980s after the Sandinista Revolution’s victory, has held power since 2007. Opponents and critics accuse him and his 73-year-old wife, Murillo, of establishing a “family dictatorship.”
