New Massive Detention of Young People in Nicaragua
HAVANA TIMES – At least 21 young people, students who are members of the University Coordinator for Democracy and Justice (CUDJ) and three documentary filmmakers, were arrested today by the Nicaraguan police in the department of Carazo (south), reported dpa news.
The university students, who were heading to the city of Granada to participate in a march against the government of Daniel Ortega, convened by the student’s organization, were taken by the police to the city of Jinotepe, capital of that department, denounced the opposition activist and attorney Monica López to the “100% Noticias” Channel.
“The young people were arbitrarily detained by the police when they were heading to Granada and managed to transmit their arrest on their Facebook page,” Lopez said, noting that one of the detainees is Henried Martinez, a member of the national dialogue round table for the Civic Alliance.
“What we are seeing here is the totally arbitrary imposition of the upside down world that is in the head of the Ortega Murillo (the presidential couple). We have the right to demonstrate and mobilize because Nicaragua (…) is not of any dictator, much less hordes of paramilitaries and criminals who are dedicated to imposing the state terrorism policy of this regime,” she added.
“Mobilizing from one city to another is not a crime, this is an arbitrary detention, and it is inadmissible that the regime intends to impose its sick vision of power through repression,” concluded the activist, who is a lawyer and daughter of the well-known former Sandinista guerilla commander Monica Baltodano, a dissident of the ruling party.
Through a tweet, the auxiliary bishop of Managua, Monsignor Silvio Baez, said that “it is inadmissible to criminalize the people for exercising their right to protest and treat them as terrorists.” Social peace is not imposed by force of bullets, intimidation, imprisonment and unfair judicial processes.”
Hours before, armed plain-clothed motorcyclists of the government attacked with bullets a caravan of vehicles of opposition activists that tried to cross the capital, after they discarded going towards Granada (50 kms. east) to participate in the march called by the CUDJ.
The caravan members desisted from participating in a unity march in Granada due to the fact that armed police and paramilitaries were stationed along the road that leads from Managua to Granada to detain vehicles.
Since April 18, Nicaragua has lived its worst political crises in four decades, which according to independent human rights organizations has left more than 330 dead, most of them anti-government protesters.
LATE NEWS: The 21 students and filmmakers were freed early Saturday evening. The Brazilian/US colleague of the Nicaraguan filmmakers is being deported on Sunday. However there were other detentions Saturday for no reason in Leon, Matagalpa and Managua with at least 12 persons, many students, still in jail. There are hundreds of political prisoners in prisons around the country. This is what the government is calling a “normal” Nicaragua.