Journalists, guerrillas, a former first lady: 10 of Nicaragua's freed dissidents

Nicaragua's government on Thursday freed 222 people among hundreds of critics and opposition figures in jail for allegedly threatening the country's sovereignty among other charges widely denounced as bogus.

These are ten high-profile individuals among those released:

- Journalist, opposition figure Cristiana Chamorro -

Chamorro, 69, is the daughter of journalist Pedro Joaquin Chamorro -- assassinated in 1978 for his opposition to the then-Samoza family dictatorship -- and former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.

She was a journalist at the La Prensa newspaper that her father ran, and was widely considered the one to beat President Daniel Ortega in elections in November 2021 -- like her mother had done in 1990.

Chamorro was detained in June 2021.

She was sentenced to eight years of house arrest on charges of money laundering and mismanagement widely denounced as trumped-up.

- Pedro Joaquin Chamorro -

The 71-year-old brother of Cristiana Chamorro also worked as a journalist at La Prensa, critical of the Ortega regime. 

He was an ambassador, defense minister from 1998 to 1999 under his mother's successor as president Arnoldo Aleman, and served in parliament for ten years.

In the 1980s, he raised funds in the United States for the Contra guerrillas that fought Ortega's Sandinista government.

He was sentenced to nine years in prison in the same case of alleged mismanagement at his sister's free speech foundation.

- Former first lady Maria Fernanda Flores -

Flores, 55, is the wife of ex-president Aleman. She was a lawmaker for the opposition Constitutionalist Liberal party when she was arrested in 2021.

She was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for "conspiracy."

- Former guerrilla Dora Maria Tellez -

Tellez, 67, is a former comrade in arms of Ortega in the Sandinista National Liberation Front, now the ruling party.

Having served as Ortega's health minister in the 1980s, she left the party in 1995 to co-found the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS).

Tellez became a vocal critic of Ortega, and denounced his government's clampdown on 2018 demonstrations that rights groups say claimed 328 lives.

She was among those rounded up in June 2021, and later sentenced to eight years in prison.

- Former foreign minister Francisco Aguirre Sacasa -

The 78-year-old served as foreign minister from 1997 to 2002 under Aleman, and had in recent years expressed concern about the Ortega government's actions.

He was arrested in July 2021 and sentenced to eight years in prison for "acts that undermine independence, sovereignty and self-determination (of Nicaragua) and incite interference in internal affairs."

- Former deputy minister Victor Hugo Tinoco -

Fellow ex-guerrilla Victor Hugo Tinoco, 70, was a deputy foreign minister in Ortega's government in the 1980s.

He was also a lawmaker and ambassador to the United Nations, before turning on Ortega in the early 2000s and joining the MRS, and later its successor Unamos movement.

Tinoco was among those arrested in June 2021, and sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2022 on charges of conspiracy to commit violations of the national integrity of Nicaragua.

- Ex-ambassador Arturo Cruz -

Cruz, 69, was ambassador to the United States for two years after Ortega returned to power in 2007.

He holds a PhD from the University of Oxford, and was an aspiring presidential candidate for the opposition Citizen Alliance for Freedom movement when he was arrested in 2021 at Managua airport on his way to Washington.

Last year, he was sentenced to nine years in prison after being found guilty of undermining national security for allegedly supporting foreign sanctions against Ortega and his inner circle.

- Former adviser Oscar Rene Vargas -

The 77-year-old sociologist was an adviser to Ortega, but distanced himself from the strongman after his return to office in 2007.

Vargas went into exile after the 2018 uprising, but was arrested in November 2022 when he returned to Nicaragua to visit his sick sister.

- Rural leader Medardo Mairena - 

Mairena, 47, campaigned against an Ortega-led project to construct a canal through Nicaragua to compete with the Panama Canal, with Chinese money.

He was one of the leaders of the 2018 anti-government protests.

He became a contender for the presidency in the 2021 elections but was arrested before he could even run. 

Mairena was sentenced to 13 years in prison for "undermining national integrity."

- Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro - 

Another newspaper man, Chamorro was the manager of La Prensa, and was arrested in August 2021 a day after police raided the newspaper.

He is a cousin of Cristiana Chamorro.

Holmann was sentenced to nine years in prison on money laundering charges. 

Founded in 1926, the newspaper ceased printing in August 2022 and is now published online from exile. Its staff left the country for fear of being jailed.

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© Agence France-Presse

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