Civil rights groups have accused President Daniel Ortega of increasing control among those arrested before the November election.
Nicaraguan officials have detained at least five other opposition leaders, as a dangerous uprising against President Daniel Ortega’s government before the November elections has criticized the European Union’s ambassador to the United States.
In a statement Tuesday, police said they had arrested three field leaders – Medardo Mairena, who organized a petition against the President, Pedro Mena, and Freddy Navas – on Monday, accusing them of killing and robbing police and civilians, armed robbery, kidnapping other cases.
Police also arrested Lesther Aleman and Max Jerez student leaders on charges of robbery, theft, rape and other offenses.
Police say both cases took place when the waves a Anti-government protests in 2018, which was brutally tortured by Nicaraguan security forces and that at least 230 people died, according to civil society groups.
The arrested leaders are among the president’s hopes, opposition leaders as well business people who were arrested last month amid recent Ortega government’s actions.
The longtime president has justified the arrest, saying his superiors were prosecuting the people who were plotting against him.
Ortega has used “conspiracy” laws to detain almost all potential opponents in the November 7 election. “It is absurd to release them. Everything we do, we do with a booklet, ”he said last month.
But government agencies and human rights groups have accused the 75-year-old – who ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990 and returned to power in 2007, and won two successive elections since then – in power.
Aleman, one of the detainees on Monday, was the leader of the 2018 demonstrations who returned to Nicaragua after a captivity abroad. His new party Citizens for Freedom has not nominated its candidates, but Aleman said last week it wanted to contest.
“Ortega’s goal is not just to end the voting race by becoming a sixth leader, but also to protect the people. He has arrested more than 20 political, cultural, independent, academic and poor leaders,” Nicaragua journalist Carlos Chamorro said on Twitter.
Chamorro, who fled to neighboring Costa Rica in mid-June, is the brother of a detained opposition leader Christian Chamorro.
On Tuesday, the European Union’s ambassador to the United States, Josep Borrell, said that “alternative” measures may be needed for the Sandtean state of Ortega.
“Things have gotten so bad that member states will need to learn the real deal, not just ‘enough, Ortega,'” Borrell told a European parliamentary session.
The United States, as well as the Organization of American States (OAS), are involved opposed the wave of arrest, calls on the Nicaraguan government to stop intimidating dissidents and to ensure free and fair elections.
Argentina and Mexico as well left their envoys in Nicaragua last month due to seizure.
