The “Crime” of Three Exiled Nicaraguan Musicians
“suspected” of preparing “a Christmas song”
At the El Chipote prison, they weren’t allowed to sleep, as they were under constant interrogation. They had to accept exile or rot in jail.
By Ivan Olivares (Confidencial)
HAVANA TIMES – The three musicians exiled by the Ortega regime, Nieves Martínez, Juan Pablo Rosales, and Dagoberto Palacios, are safe, trying to settle in Spain and the United States, after the dictatorship secretly expelled them from Nicaragua, sources from the music industry who requested to remain anonymous told CONFIDENCIAL.
The first to be abducted was Juan Pablo Rosales. After holding him for several days, they captured Dagoberto Palacios (the nephew of the recently deceased folklorist, Haydee Palacios), whose phone contained a message from Nieves Martinez, “and they begin to weave their theories, because these people are seeing shadows everywhere,” one of the sources said.
The “theory” referred to here suggests that the three exiled musicians were working on a musical project aimed at “making a protest song in Monimbó. A protest song for Christmas or the end of the year… but even if that were true, even if that were the case, producing a song is not a crime.”
Exiled musicians “did not intend to get involved”
“I don’t know if they were involved in that project, but that is the theory that the government is working with,” one of the sources said. “They didn’t have the artistic profile to compose or record something against the government. What I’ve always known is that they had no intention of getting involved,” said another interviewee.
Initially, the news of the detentions didn’t spread beyond the family and friends of the three detainees, but their forced expulsion allowed the violation of the regime to become known internationally through social media.
The key to the regime’s oppressors feeling they had completed their mission was the detention of Martinez. Since they did not know his whereabouts, they decided to arrest Martinez’s brother and father-in-law, which forced the artist to decide what to do after consulting with people from his family and some close friends.
Nieves Martinez turned himself in after the detention of family members
“Nieves is very close to the Catholic Church, a man who is closer to God. He has many religious friends and leads a spiritual life. So he said: ‘I’ve never failed my brother, or my father-in-law. I’ve never failed my family, and for me, they won’t be in prison: I will present myself,’ and he went to turn himself in around eleven at night on Monday the 11th, leaving from his house in Managua.”
Since they were expecting him, when he arrived at the police substation in Masaya where they had his relatives, they were immediately released, and he was taken – violently – back to Managua, presumably to the El Chipote cells.
Sources from the artistic community told CONFIDENCIAL that that night, Rosales, Palacios, and Martínez were not allowed to sleep because they were under constant interrogation. The next day, they weren’t given something to eat while they continued to be questioned.
“Rot in jail or leave the country”
Around four in the afternoon, they were given a choice between rotting in jail or leaving the country. “That choice is not because they want them to choose, but because airlines don’t accept taking someone who is kidnapped,” one source explained.
The regime considered sending them to a South American country, but the rejection from that country’s government led them to decide to send them to El Salvador, as no visa is required to enter that country, which is a signatory of the CA-4 migration agreement.
Rosales, who holds a U.S. visa, requested to be sent to the United States, and that’s what happened, while Palacios and Martínez took advantage of their arrival in El Salvador to connect with flights to third countries.
When denouncing the arbitrary expulsion of Bishop Carlos Enrique Herrera, 75 years old, President of the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference (CEN), the Nicaragua Nunca Más (Never Again) Human Rights Collective also condemned the action against the three exiled musicians, which, in their view, demonstrates that “arbitrary detentions, temporary forced disappearances, and exile are a practice of the dictatorship.”
“The forced exile, due to the systematic manner in which it has been carried out in Nicaragua, should be considered a crime against humanity and is added to the dozens of other crimes the dictatorship has committed, an act that must be denounced and condemned by the international community,” added Nunca Más.
History of attacks on music
Rosales, Palacios, and Martinez are not the first musicians to be exiled by the regime, especially after a musical explosion accompanied the social protests during the April Rebellion of 2018. In recent years, some of the most important composers, performers, and instrumentalists have been kidnapped without a judicial process and illegally expelled from the country.
On April 12, 2022, a wave of kidnappings and forced deportations of Nicaraguan artists began. On that day, the National Police arbitrarily detained Josue Monroy, vocalist of the band Monroy y Surmenage, as well as Xochilt Tapia and Salvador Espinoza, managers of Saxo Producciones, who were also exiled.
On April 18, 2022, immigration authorities prevented Carlos Luis Mejía Rodríguez, a member and founder of the musical group La Cuneta Son Machín, from entering the country. The artist was returning from a family trip to the United States, but during a stop in El Salvador, he was told he could not enter Nicaragua, so he was sent back to Washington, while his mother and daughter were allowed to continue their journey. Subsequently, music producer Leonardo Canales, director of La Antesala, was deported to Costa Rica (he holds both nationalities) after being kidnapped on April 12 in the same police raid where Monroy, Tapia, and Espinoza were taken.
First published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.