Five “political prisoners” released after a year detained in Nicaragua

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Five opponents considered “political prisoners” in Nicaragua were released on Sunday after a year in prison, and transferred by the authorities to their homes on the Island of Ometepe, announced attorney Yonarqui Martinez.

“They have already been released, I could not tell you the official figure because we have not had access, but they let us know that they are on their way to Ometepe Island, they are being guarded,” Martinez reported.

The released “political prisoners” are Engel José López, Edman Jeancarlo Mora, Yubran Abel Mora, Edwin Javier Mora, and Amilcar Cerda, a transsexual known as “Celia Cruz”.

The five, along with Juana Estela López and the elderly Justo Rodríguez, who last December was released from prison in a vegetative state, had been detained in April 2020, after taking part in a demonstration against President Daniel Ortega in Ometepe, an island paradise formed by two volcanoes that emerge from the Great Lake of Nicaragua.

Martinez, who Nicaraguans call “attorney of the political prisoners” for defending dozens of opponents, said that until yesterday afternoon she was unaware if the prisoners released from Ometepe had suffered injuries while detained.

The release of the islanders occurred while some in Nicaragua were still celebrating the 3rd anniversary of the popular uprising against Ortega, which began with street protests in April 2018, and in which hundreds lost their lives, were arrested or disappeared, during armed attacks by police and groups related to Sandinismo.

At least 120 “political prisoners” remain locked up in Nicaraguan jails, after the release of the 5 from Ometepe Island, according to figures from the multidisciplinary group Monitoreo Azul y Blanco, dedicated to monitoring political incidents.

Of the total number of “political prisoners”, 110 were arrested within the framework of the anti-government protests that began in 2018, and 10 remained locked up since before that year, according to the multidisciplinary group.

The “political prisoners” issue is complex in Nicaragua, since most opponents have warned that should they fail to be released soon they will cancel their participation in the general elections of next November 7th to challenge Ortega’s legitimacy in case he achieves his third consecutive reelection.

With hundreds of deaths reported by organizations such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Nicaragua is experiencing its worst socio-political crisis since the 1980s to 1990s, also under Ortega’s tutelage.