University students issue an “SOS” for the health of imprisoned student leader in Nicaragua

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Nicaraguan University Alliance (AUN) issued this Monday an “SOS for the physical health and psychological condition” of youth opposition leader Lesther Alemán, known for having rebuked President Daniel Ortega in 2018, and who has been imprisoned since the beginning of last July.

The student organization made this appeal after learning that “the authorities of the Directorate of Judicial Aid requested the admission of a medicine to treat symptoms of vertigo or dizziness, without a prescription.”

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“We raised a second SOS alert about the deterioration of the young man’s physical health and psychological condition, demanding adequate and independent medical attention, with the application of medication to be treated under medical prescription through a doctor’s prescription,” the AUN indicated.

In a live television broadcast, Aleman, 23, jumped into the public limelight for confronting President Ortega, the leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), whom he asked for his surrender in the framework of anti-government demonstrations that broke out in April 2018.

The student leader, whom the opposition considers a “political prisoner” since his arrest last July 6, was charged by the Prosecutor’s Office with the crime of “conspiracy to commit undermining national integrity”.

The AUN had already issued a first SOS on July 9 for the health of Aleman, whose condition it described as “serious and worrisome, as a result of intense interrogations, psychological torture, and the almost non-existent communication with his family and lawyers”.

The young man’s mother, Lesbia Alfaro, has requested that her son be seen by a doctor after learning that he was “skinny”, with problems standing up, hunger, and apparent signs of dehydration, she said.

Alemán is being held in the National Police jail known as “El Nuevo Chipote”, along with 35 other opposition leaders and independent professionals, among them seven presidential hopefuls, captured in a wave of arrests in the context of the November 7 elections, in which Ortega is seeking another reelection.