Nicaragua orders the arrest of famous writer Sergio Ramirez | Election News

President Daniel Ortega is accused of suppressing critics and political opponents before the November elections.

Nicaraguan prosecutors have ordered the arrest of an award-winning novelist who served as vice president under President Daniel Ortega, making him a recently accused opponent of the left-wing government. Continued suppression As the election approaches.

Sergio Ramirez, who won Premio Cervantes, the most prestigious literary prize in the Spanish-speaking world in 2017, was accused of “inciting hatred” and “conspiracy”-these allegations Arrest political opponents and candidates Will compete with Ortega in the November election.

Ramirez, 78, was an official in the Sandinista government, which came to power in 1979 and served as Ortega’s vice president during his first term from 1985 to 1990.

In 1995, he broke up with Ortega’s Sandinista National Liberation Front, and soon withdrew from politics, but he remained an important voice in the country.

Ramirez left Nicaragua in June.

Suppress

The Nicaraguan government has used a law approved by the parliament in December last year, accusing about 34 political opponents, including seven presidential candidates, of conspiring against the country.

The crackdown prompted the European Union and the United States to impose sanctions and visa restrictions on Nicaraguan officials. Washington Say The upcoming polls have lost “all credibility.”

Among these allegations, Ramirez is accused of receiving funds from the Violeta Barrios Chamorro Foundation, which is accused of money laundering and undermining national sovereignty.

With only two months left before the November presidential election, the Nicaraguan judicial authorities have begun to file lawsuits against at least 20 political opponents, including 5 presidential candidates.

Cristiana Chamorro, a candidate for the chairperson of the Chamorro Foundation, named after her mother, was among those prosecuted.

Before the 75-year-old Ortega won his second term in 2007, the old Chamorro defeated Ortega in the 1990 presidential election.

Before he left the country, Ramirez was summoned by the prosecutor as a witness in the Chamorro Foundation case.

The prosecutor also accused Ramirez of receiving funds from the Luisa Mercado Foundation, and the prosecutor’s office accused the cultural organization of trying to “destabilize” the country.

The author of the famous novel Divine Punishment, Ramirez is also the recipient of the Alpha Guara Award in 1998, Margarita, How Beautiful the Sea is.