Nicaraguan Dictator Eliminating Opposition Ahead of Fall Elections

Four opposition figures have been arrested in Nicaragua in what government critics have called a hunt for critics of Dictator Daniel Ortega.

Two of those detained on Tuesday are potential candidates in the election in November, in which Ortega is expected to run for a fifth term.  Their arrests bring the total of presidential hopefuls in detention to four. 

In a space of 12 hours, the following opposition figures were arrested:

• Félix Maradiaga, academic and political activist who was planning to run as an opposition candidate in the presidential election
• Juan Sebastián Chamorro, economist and presidential hopeful
• José Adán Aguerri, economist and head of the Committee on Economic Integration
• Violeta Granera, sociologist and opposition activist

Two more presidential hopefuls - former ambassador Arturo Cruz and Cristiana Chamorro - were detained in the past week.

Chamorro was charged with money laundering days after announcing that she would seek to become the presidential candidate for the opposition Citizen's Alliance.  She is seen by many in the opposition as their best hope of defeating Ortega at the ballot box. Her mother Violeta Chamorro beat him in the 1990 presidential poll.

Christiana Chamorro and Granera are under house arrest, while Juan Chamorro and Aguerri are in police detention.  A lawyer for Maradiaga said his client was being held at an undisclosed location and had been badly beaten as he was taken into custody.

With the exception of Cristiana Chamorro, all have been arrested under a controversial treason law passed in December by Nicaragua's National Assembly, which is dominated by government allies.  Under the law, the government has the power to ban candidates from running for office if they are deemed to be traitors to Nicaragua. Anyone designated a traitor can be sent to prison for up to 15 years.  Critics say the law is designed to stop opposition politicians from standing in the election.

Christiana Chamorro's brother, Carlos Fernando Chamorro, said that Daniel Ortega was removing anyone who might challenge him. "This is just an attack against basic rights of political competition. In the past he had several hundreds of political prisoners as hostages. Now he has captured four aspiring presidential candidates as hostages."

Shortly before being led away by police, Maradiaga said he would not give up fighting. "What we have done is fight alongside the Nicaraguan people, and we will continue to do so," he said.  Juan Chamorro vowed to resist in a video he recorded before being summoned by the authorities: "This is a good fight, for good causes. Let's not let a criminal dictatorship take away our rights any longer.".