Nicaraguan Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses Chamorro and asks to disqualify her from public office

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Nicaragua indicted on Tuesday the opposition presidential candidate Cristiana María Chamorro Barrios, daughter of former President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997), for the crimes of abusive management, ideological falsehood, both in real competition with money laundering, property, and assets.

The Prosecutor’s Office also requested the disqualification of Chamorro Barrios, the opposition figure with the highest probability of winning the November elections, in which President Daniel Ortega seeks new reelection, according to a poll by the firm CID Gallup, “for not being in full enjoyment of his civil and political rights because she is in a criminal proceeding”.

In addition, the Public Prosecutor’s Office proceeded to request the precautionary measures of migratory retention with the purpose, as indicated, of preventing her from evading the investigative process against her.

It also requested that Chamorro Barrios be prohibited from attending certain meetings and places and communicating with persons linked to the events under investigation.

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These same precautionary measures, except for the disqualification from holding public office, were requested against the correspondent of the Hispanic network Univision in Nicaragua, María Lilly Delgado Talavera, and the journalists María Lourdes Arróliga Vanegas and Guillermo José Medrano, former employees of the NGO Fundación Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.

For the moment, the Public Prosecutor’s Office did not accuse these three communicators.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office informed “that the process continues for the crime of money laundering, goods, assets, and others,” for which the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, which closed last February, is being investigated.

“The Public Prosecutor’s Office will continue to carry out all investigative diligences necessary to clarify the facts. We have called and will continue to call all those persons who appear as beneficiaries” of that NGO, he said.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, that NGO, dedicated to the protection and promotion of freedom of the press and expression, “seriously failed to comply with its obligations before the Regulatory Entity, and from the analysis of the Financial Statements, period 2015-2019, clear indications of money laundering were obtained”, for which reason “the Public Ministry has been informed to (open) the corresponding investigation”.

For that case, the Prosecutor’s Office has called to testify as witnesses about twenty journalists, including the owner of the popular radio station La Corporación and former presidential candidate, the nonagenarian Fabio Gadea, and the co-owner of the channel 100% Noticias Verónica Chávez.

Also, the writer, novelist, and former vice-president of Nicaragua Sergio Ramírez Mercado was legal representative of the NGO Fundación Luisa Mercado, which had a relationship with the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation.