Detention of potential candidates
Using the laws approved in 2020, the Nicaraguan government began a witch hunt in June 2021 that led to the arrest of seven presidential candidates.
On June 2, journalist Cristiana Chamorro, the presidential hopeful with the best chances against Ortega, was placed under house arrest, accused of money laundering. She is the daughter of former President Violeta Barrios and Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, hero of the fight against the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza (1937 to 1979).
In the days and weeks that followed, six other presidential hopefuls were arrested: the political scientist Félix Madariaga, the economist Juan Sebastián Chamorro (Cristiana’s cousin), the former diplomat Arturo Cruz, the journalist Miguel Mora, the peasant leader Medardo Mairena and the conservative leader Noel Vidaurre.
Other members of the Chamorro family and prominent Sandinista dissidents, such as former commander Dora María Téllez, as well as business and social leaders, were also arrested.
The government accuses the detained opponents of “traitors to the homeland” and “coup plotters” financed by the United States. Washington, which labels Ortega a “dictator”, the UN and the European Union demand his release.
contested elections
On November 7, Nicaragua experienced elections in which the entire world knew in advance that Daniel Ortega would win the presidency for the fourth time.
Elections with no international observers and all foreign dam accreditations were banned. The United States, the European Union and most of the Latin American countries considered that the elections had no legitimacy.
Ortega, who prevailed with 75% of the votes, faced five right-wing candidates, unknown and branded as government collaborators, who in total obtained the remaining 25% of the vote.