Christiana Zamoro: Ortega regime includes writer Sergio Ramியோrez in opposition persecution in Nicaragua | International

The reigns of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo joined writer Sergio Ramியோrez this Tuesday For money laundering The Nicaraguan Attorney’s Office maintains the investigation phase against the presidential candidate Christian Zamoro And the passive Violeta Barios Foundation he directed. The novelist and the Cervantes Prize winner were called in to witness an interview.

“I am just happy to be free. And I don’t know. ” Writer Before entering the National Headquarters of the Ministry of Public Works. The organization invited him as a legal representative for the Louisa Mercado Foundation, a non-profit association based in Ramsay’s hometown of Masadepe, which promotes cultural and educational development among young people.

The award-winning author’s quote was surprising because, until now, The case against Christiana Zamoro It only covers about twenty people, mostly journalists and independent media. Ramres attended a meeting with his lawyer Tuesday afternoon.

Upon leaving the summons, the writer provided details of his testimony. “The Louisa Mercado Foundation has a very large cultural program that is well known: Central America Counts, with over 500 writers from Latin America, Spain and around the world. We have the support of the Violeta Foundation in financial resources. The agreements I signed as the legal representative of the Louisa Mercado Foundation, a relationship that strictly adheres to Nicaraguan law and is conducted with complete transparency, “said Rameres.” Nicaragua is experiencing some turbulent political periods in this electoral framework. It is in view. These are all closely related, ”the author said at the end of an interview with the attorney general’s office.

Ramரres, who was vice president of Ortega during the Sandinista revolution, was one of the most critical of the Sandinista president for some years. Author of the novel Margarita, the sea is beautiful He has always condemned human rights abuses and the dictatorial abuses of Ortega-Murillos. In 2018, after receiving the Cervantes Award Dedicated his speech Nicaraguans seeking justice and democracy were murdered on the streets.

Ortega and Murillo seize power

Government of Ortega and Murillo It has directly taken up the investigation of the alleged money laundering case against Christiana Zamoro, the presidential candidate who received the highest score in the election. On May 29, the Communications and Citizens’ Council, chaired by Vice President Rosario Murillo, Issued a statement This confirms the violent arrests of Walter Gomez and Marcos Fletz, former executives and former accountants of the Violeta Foundation, respectively, who were charged with Zamoro for alleged discrepancies in the company’s financial statements.

The government report – which set aside the attorney general’s office as the person in charge of the case – announced that they had extended the trial period against Gomez and Fleet to 90 days, for which they were imprisoned, to see them without their lawyers and their relatives. “They are being kidnapped”, Christiana Zamoro was charged with three more offenses besides money laundering: ideological lying, improper management and illegal or improper acts.

The Sandinista regime introduced amendments to Act 1060 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, approved on February 3 this year, with former workers of the Violeta Foundation, extending the detention period to 48 hours and now “not less than 15 days and not more than 90 days.” This is also one of the laws Cancel corner enemies and practical warranties.

The arrests of Gomez and Fleet last Friday night plunged the country to the brink. The former accountant was prevented from leaving a house and was first detained by armed civilians when he was shot in the ground. Later, his relatives said the house of former executive Gomez was searched without a court order. In El Chibot’s frightened cells, men are imprisoned in the Assistant Directorate of Justice (DAJ), where, according to national and international human rights organizations, torture and mistreatment are carried out to force reports.

Within 24 hours of the arrest, relatives and lawyers of the former workers came to the DAJ to ask them. But the doors were closed, and no one attended to them until this article was published. In the weeks leading up to his arrest, Gomez and Fletz denounced the police and the ruling party for harassing and harassing members of the public.

The investigation was transferred to the police

The investigation against Cristiano Zamoro and the foundation he directed (and closed last February to prevent foreign agents from complying with the law) has been going on for three weeks, but prosecutors have yet to open a criminal case. According to judicial sources who spoke with EL PAÍS, the prosecutors responsible could not specify the evidence for the indictment.

In fact, before Gomez Y captured the Fleet, the media Revealed something different The government will transfer part of the investigation to the DAJ so that the police can be held accountable for the investigations. The publication reviewed that “they estimate that the Assistant Directorate of Justice is conducting an investigation because prosecutors are slow and could not find evidence for the allegation,” emphasizing the compulsion to refer to a police officer who blindly accused the presidential couple of repression.

The case is receiving more and more police comments, and the prosecution continues to march on witnesses involved in money laundering, one of whom is a co-worker. Media in Nicaragua, Photo Journalist Carlos Herrera. Other workers of the inactive Violeta Foundation, Lourdes Aurelica and Guillermo Matrono, are being investigated by Maria Lilly Delgado, a Managua correspondent for the Universe Network. The accounts of Christiana Zamoro, Aurelica and Metrono were frozen and the bank secret was removed.

USA: No evidence of money laundering

The government’s campaign against the USAID agency, one of the Violeta Foundation’s collaborators, has sharpened its guns and made it clear that “the case is political.” “Where do they get a good chunk of that money from? From the United States, a foreign power interfering in Nicaraguan affairs. Of course, he’s political for that reason,” said official journalist William Griggsby.

However, the US State Department denied that there were any signs of currency devaluation: “The USAID, as part of its routine oversight, has conducted several audits of our program with the Violeta Barrios de Zamoro Foundation. We have not found any evidence of money laundering or misappropriation of USAID funds for any other purpose. ”

“The United States reiterates that it is as concerned as the entire international community with recent actions against opposition political parties and candidates, as well as the independent media,” the State Department added.

Cristiano Zamoro has repeatedly said that this “conspiracy” is not only silencing the press, but also trying to block her presidential candidate, because it is so popular. Emphasizes that Ortega-Murillo They are horrified by the ghost of the electoral defeat given to his mother, former President Violeta Barrios Ortega, in 1990. “This is Daniel Ortega’s revenge against my mother’s legacy. He wants to prevent Nicaraguans from voting, and there is no transfer to democracy. “

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