Five men and one woman aspire to the presidency of Nicaragua for opposition coalition

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Five men and a woman were announced on Sunday as pre-candidates to the Presidency of Nicaragua by the Coalición Nacional, one of the opposition factions, with a view to the elections next November 7.

The presidential candidates are: Dr. María Eugenia Alonzo; former “contra” guerrilla Luis Fley; Afro-descendant activist George Henríquez Cayasso; peasant leader Medardo Mairena; academic and ex-secretary of the Ministry of Defense (2004-2007) Félix Maradiaga; and entrepreneur and journalist Miguel Mora.

The Coalición Nacional, one of the two main opposition factions, comprises the Partido de Restauración Democrática (PRD), the indigenous Yatama (“Sons of Mother Earth” in the Miskito language), and the organizations Fuerza Democrática Nicaragüense (FDN), Unidad Nacional Azul y Blanco, and Movimiento Campesino.

During an event held in a Managua hotel, guarded by police, the presidential aspirants for this coalition focused their speeches on advocating unity, the release of the so-called “political prisoners,” and demanding justice for the victims of the anti-government demonstrations that erupted in April 2018 and left hundreds dead.

MESSAGES OF UNITY

Alonzo, the only woman pre-candidate for the Presidency for the opposition bloc, declared herself “proudly self-convened” and that she comes “from a simple and honest family, but millionaires in virtues, principles and values.”

In addition to demanding justice for the victims and freedom for “political prisoners,” she advocated unity among opposition forces, declared herself in favor of eliminating presidential reelection and invited journalist Cristiana Chamorro, daughter of ex-president Violeta Barrios (1990-1997) and national hero Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, also aspiring to the presidency, to join her.

The ex-guerrilla Fley also advocated unity to overcome the “dictatorship” and for Nicaraguans “not to continue skating as with an exercise treadmill.”

Should he become President, he vowed to reduce the State, to get Nicaragua out of the Central American Court of Justice “which is useless,” to send “the entire National Police leadership to retirement” and to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the deaths that occurred in the context of the protests against Ortega.

DO THEY INTEND TO BE THE SECOND FORCE?

For his part, Afro-descendant activist Henríquez criticized opponents who refuse to form a single opposition bloc.

“Some leaders aim to be the second political force in the country and are not aiming at a change of Government and here people are not stupid, they are not fools and we already know who they are,” said the politician, despite mentioning no one.

“From the Coalición Nacional we are still committed to the creation of a consolidated opposition bloc against this regime,” he stated.

Maradiaga, who was in exile, asked for a minute of silence for the victims and said that “it is difficult to assert that we are an authentically independent nation.”

He observed that in Nicaragua there is no individual freedom, freedom of the press, that officials “obey a family in power” and the “regime represses” those who think differently.

LONG AND DIFFICULT ROAD AHEAD

Mairena, who was imprisoned during the crisis, expressed his solidarity with the relatives of the victims, the “political prisoners” and the exiles.

Likewise, he advocated the unity of the opposition and said that “we are in time” for “the people to have an opportunity to choose with whom they feel best represented.”

“With Sandinismo in power there will be no hope, no future for our young people, pensions will not recover their real value, energy and fuels will continue to rise, as well as the basic food basket,” said journalist Mora, who was also in prison.

The politician and communicator said that “the road will be long and difficult, because we chose the hardest way: the way of civic and peaceful resistance,” but that nevertheless, they will win.

At the end of the event, the presidential candidates signed an agreement in which they accept to submit themselves to “an inclusive method which guarantees free competition in equal conditions for all candidates” to elect a candidate.

Opponents are seeking how to defeat the Sandinistas, led by Daniel Ortega, 75 years old, who on January 10th completed 14 consecutive years in his second stint as President of Nicaragua, after coordinating a Government Junta between 1979 and 1985, and presiding the country for the first time from 1985 to 1990.

Source: efe