The US Government imposed visa restrictions this Thursday on more than 350 members of the Nicaraguan National Police and stressed that this measure is part of his support for the aspirations of “freedom, justice and dignity” of the Nicaraguan people.
The spokesperson of State Department, Matthew Millerindicated in a statement that the affected agents are part of the rDaniel Ortega’s regiment and his wife, Rosario Murillo, “who carries out selective attacks against civil society.”
“These attacks have profoundly denied its people access to important services and the freedom to organize, express opinions and shape their future without fear of reprisals,” their note said.
The actions of the National Police, Miller added, “weaken democratic processes and foster an environment in which dissent or the perception of dissent is met with punitive, often brutal, measures rather than open dialogue and debate.”
Since November 2021, the Joe Biden Administration has imposed visa restrictions on more than 1,750 Nicaraguan officials.
The US Executive reiterated this Thursday its call for Ortega and Murillo to stop “the threats, harassment and unjust detention of defenders of civil society, freedoms of expression, religion or beliefs and of association.”
“Ortega and Murillo’s continued dismantling of civic space, including the revocation of the legal status of more than 5,500 NGOs, stifles dissent and perpetuates fear and oppression in Nicaragua,” Miller concluded.
On the other hand, the humanitarian NGO Nicaragua Collective Never Again denounced on Tuesday “the almost seven months of forced disappearance” of the retired Nicaraguan colonel Victor Boitanocritical of the regime Ortegaan act that, he warned, “constitutes a crime against humanity.”
“On April 23, 2024, Boitano, 63, was kidnapped by groups dressed in civilian clothes who invaded his property located in the Altamira neighborhood of Managua,” said the Collective, made up of exiled Nicaraguan activists and based in Managua, in a statement. in Costa Rica.
The organization recalled that Boitano, upon being sent into retirement by the Nicaraguan Army in 2007, published several books criticizing the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), “for which he was a victim of persecution, arbitrary detention in 2011 and being forced to withdraw from political life.”
He explained that the retired military man traveled to Italy on May 13, 2018, and returned to Nicaragua in September 2023 through the Peñas Blancas border that he shares with Costa Rica.
“Initially he encountered no problems when renewing his identification card and driver’s license. However, after managing the renewal of his passport, He was arrested regardless of the fact that he suffers from diabetes, hypertension and delirium of persecution. Since then his whereabouts have been unknown,” he said.
According to that NGO, Boitano’s relatives went to their offices in Costa Rica “to report his disappearance and explain that they made at least 16 requests” to the Directorate of Judicial Assistance, the ‘La Modelo’ prison and even requested a hearing with the Chief of the Nicaraguan Police, Francisco Diaz“however, they did not receive a response.”
(With information from EFE)
