Nicaraguan Political Prisoner Suffers Maximum Security Cell
Former political prisoner Ivan Irias denounced the situation of Jaqueline Rodríguez, who was abducted last April along with her husband Sergio Hernandez
HAVANA TIMES – Former political prisoner from Jinotega, Iván Irías, informed via his social networks that current political prisoner Jaqueline de Jesús Rodriguez Herrera, 35, is being held in the Women’s La Esperanza jail in Tipitapa, in a maximum security cell, where she suffers inhumane conditions.
Jaqueline was abducted along with her husband, Sergio Hernández Castilblanco, 37, also from Jinotega, on April 22. However, her name does not appear on the list of the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners, which only includes the prisoners whose names have been authorized by their relatives.
“Jaqueline is in the maximum security women’s prison La Esperanza. Sergio is in the wretched La Modelo, where Eddy Montes was murdered and where many of us were tortured,” Irias denounced.
He stressed that the only reason Jaqueline, a public accountant by profession, and Hernandez, a teacher and broadcaster, were imprisoned was for having a blue and white Nicaraguan flag and thinking contrary to the regime and its close collaborators.
Jaqueline’s brother, Ronald Antonio Rodríguez, commented in Irias’ publication advocating for the freedom of his relatives, assuring that he trusts that God will do justice by them and for all of Nicaragua.
The charges against the incarcerated couple have not yet appeared in the court’s online system, so it is still unknown what crimes they allegedly committed to warrant incarceration, if they were already subjected to a trial hearing, or if they have received a conviction.
Ten women jailed for political reasons
The Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners released on June 19 identified 64 people: 54 men and 10 women, who remain locked up in different prisons throughout the country, by order of the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship.
The woman with the longest time in prison is Martha Candelaria Rivas Hernandez, 44, originally from Diria, Granada, who has been detained since June 22, 2022 after refusing to accuse the priest Manuel Salvador García of alleged aggressions, which were invented by the dictatorship.
This same document also includes more recent cases such as that of Anielka Lucía Garcia Zapata, 27, from Chichigalpa, Chinandega, captured on April 4, 2023; Olesia Auxiliadora Muñoz Pavon, 52, of Niquinohomo, Masaya, arrested on April 6, 2023; Brenda Lee Baldelomar Aleman, 48, of Chinandega, jailed on April 17; and Nelly Griselda Lopez Garcia, 41, of Masaya, detained on April 16.
In addition, the cases of four other women aged 55, 56, 35 and 39, are mentioned. They are still being documented and awaiting authorization from their families to be included on the list with all their data.