Nicaragua steps up persecution of political opponents by charging their relatives with crimes

The regime of Daniel Ortega has stepped up its persecution of political opponents by charging their family members with serious crimes in Nicaragua.

Last week, the wife, daughter, and son-in-law of exiled Nicaraguan economist Javier Alvarez were formally charged with serious crimes after being jailed for three weeks, reported The Associated Press.

Jeannine Horvilleur, 63, Ana Carolina Alvarez Horvilleur, 43, both of Nicaraguan and French nationality, and Ana Carolina’s Husband Felix Roiz were detained to apply pressure on Alvarez, who fled the Central American country.

“When I found out Sunday that in the judicial system there was already a charge, I suffered one of the hardest blows,” said Álvarez, who opposes the government, but does not hold a leadership position in the opposition. “The world fell in on me.”

Alvarez, who is currently exiled in Costa Rica, said he received a message from the Nicaraguan police informing him that his family members were at the infamous El Chipote prison “and that they would not get out until I turned myself in.”

According to the NGO Nicaragua Center for Human Rights, Alvarez’s case revealed “a new pattern of extortion kidnapping” by the Ortega regime to leverage opposition members.

Human Rights organizations have long accused the Ortega regime of taking the relatives of exiled political opponents as “hostages.”

In a similar case, the brother of Dulce Maria Porras, the leader of UNAMOS, was arrested despite her being exiled in Costa Rica since 2018.

“They are kidnapping our relatives because they can’t capture us,” Porras said. “This is a criminal act, typical of drug cartels.”

Her brother, Freddy Martin Porras, has not been politically active for some time yet was still charged with spreading fake news and conspiring to damage national integrity.

“They are looking to increase the terror that they have imposed on citizens,” Alvarez said. “Now they transfer the supposed ‘blame’ or ‘crime’ to the intimate sphere, to the most precious which is the family ... to cause the greatest pain possible” on the opposition, he added.