6 more political rivals arrested
MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Nicaraguan police arrested a half dozen more opposition figures, including the sixth presidential hopeful to have been arrested in a crackdown that started last month.
Among those arrested Monday was Lesther Aleman, a former student leader who returned to Nicaragua after exile but stayed in safe houses. Those detained also included presidential contender Medardo Mairena, and Max Jerez, another student leader.
Two leaders of farmers’ groups, Pedro Mena and Freddy Navas, were also arrested, and a third, Pablo Morales, was listed by opposition activists as having been detained.
Almost all were arrested under “treason” laws that President Daniel Ortega has used to detain almost all his potential rivals in the Nov. 7 elections.
On Tuesday, the European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Tuesday that “more restrictive” measures may be needed against Ortega’s Sandinista government.
“The situation has reached such an extreme that member states will have to study more concrete actions, and not just ‘enough already, Mr. Ortega,’ ” Borrell told a session of the European Parliament.
Aleman played a leading role in 2018 protests against Ortega’s government that were met with brutal repression; he had gone into exile in the United States after that and knew he might be a target when he returned in 2019. Aleman hadn’t lived at home for three years.
Just last week, when Aleman went to his party’s headquarters for a meeting, police stopped him outside the building, checked his ID and took his picture before letting him enter. “When I entered eight police cars arrived,” Aleman said later. “I was surrounded and everyone said it was my day.” He declined to explain how he got out.
Aleman’s relatively new Citizens for Freedom party has not selected its candidate yet, but Aleman had said last week he planned to run.
The government has arrested at least 27 opposition figures over the past month. Most face vague allegations of crimes against the state. Ortega alleges the April 2018 street protests were part of an organized coup attempt with foreign backing.
With five of the bestknown potential candidates already in jail and the field tilted heavily in Ortega’s favor as he pursues a fourth consecutive term, some believe the opposition should sit out and not legitimize an Ortega victory.