Nicaragua sentences ex-presidential candidate to eight years in jail amid wider opposition crackdown

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This is the latest crackdown by President Daniel Ortega’s government on opposition members.

Ortega claimed a fifth term as president last November. In June 2021, his government began using a vague national security law as justification to lock up opposition presidential candidates, opposition leaders, journalists, human rights activists and others ahead of the November election.

At least 40 opposition figures have been found guilty of conspiring to undermine national integrity and financial crimes, according to CNN Español.

Chamorro, a journalist and former director of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation for Reconciliation and Democracy, was sentenced to eight years in prison for the crimes of money laundering and improper retention and will remain under house arrest, according to the Nicaraguan Centre for Human Rights (CENIDH). Pedro Vásquez, the journalist’s driver, was sentenced to seven years in prison for money laundering, according to CENIDH.

Nicaragua finds former foreign minister and journalist guilty of conspiracy

Violeta Barrios de Chamorro…

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