Nicaraguan government launches mass arrests of presidential candidates

6/12/21
 
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from The Washington Post,
6/9/21:

President Daniel Ortega’s government has carried out sweeping arrests of his top challengers in the November elections, in a sharp escalation of political repression in Nicaragua.

Two of the presidential hopefuls were arrested on Tuesday — Félix Maradiaga, an academic and political activist, and Juan Sebastián Chamorro, an economist. During the past week, two others, Arturo Cruz and Cristiana Chamorro, were also detained. The roundup of opposition figures represented a clear challenge to the Biden administration, occurring as Vice President Harris was visiting the region to promote good governance and find solutions to unauthorized migration.

Geoff Thale, president of the Washington Office on Latin America, an advocacy group, said the arrests were a signal to the Biden administration — “a message that plays to nationalist sentiment in the region, that the gringos aren’t going to push us around.”

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Nicaraguan government launches mass arrests of presidential candidates