The Ortega regime unleashes a hunt for journalists for an alleged crime of money laundering

The alleged money laundering case that the Government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo opened against the opposition presidential candidate, Cristiana Chamorro, is now used as an umbrella to corner more journalists and media in Nicaragua. This Monday, the Sandinista loyalist Prosecutor’s Office issued a series of subpoenas against reporters and editors of the publications, something that has been interpreted as an escalation to silence the independent press in a year in which general elections are scheduled that do not enjoy any guarantees. of credibility and competence so far.

The journalists cited by the Prosecutor’s Office are Fabio Gadea Mantilla, director of Radio Corporación, one of the stations with the largest audience, especially in rural areas of Nicaragua. María Lilly Delgado, correspondent for the Univision network. Verónica Chávez, former executive director of the confiscated channel 100% Noticias. And finally, Lourdes Arróliga, former worker of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation. Guillermo Medrano, former director of the human rights area of ​​the same foundation, was also cited.

The money laundering case against Cristiana Chamorro is due to her condition as former director of the Violeta Foundation, a non-governmental organization that closed operations last February to avoid submitting to the Foreign Agents Law promulgated by the regime, a regulation that criminalizes donations and media funding. The Violeta Foundation was a benchmark for the defense and promotion of press freedom in Nicaragua, a country where this fundamental right is systematically attacked by the Government.

According to the Ortega regime, “the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation for Reconciliation and Democracy seriously breached its obligations before the Regulatory Entity and from the analysis of the Financial Statements for the period 2015 – 2019, clear indications of money laundering were obtained; therefore, the Ministry of the Interior has informed the Public Ministry for the corresponding investigation ”.

Cristiana Chamorro went to the Interior and the Prosecutor’s Office last week to present the legal documentation that, according to her, contradicts the money laundering case. The former director of the Violeta Foundation classifies the case “as a legal monstrosity” against her, and maintains that it has been designed to inhibit her as a presidential candidate. Chamorro is the most popular presidential candidate according to the polls, and her moral figure thanks to the legacy of her parents (former president Violeta Barrios and the martyr of public liberties Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, assassinated by the Somoza dictatorship) profile her as the figure that could unite a divided opposition.

“This is not an accusation against me, but against all of us who want democracy. At this moment the dictator is showing that he is afraid of me. I assure you that he is also afraid of all of us, because we will be able to unite and we will defeat him together with the people with the people, ”the candidate insisted.

Apart from Chamorro’s possible inhibition, the Ortega government has taken advantage of the laundering signal to go after other journalists and the media. The day the candidate was indicted, the magazine Confidential she was raided and assaulted for the second time in three years by the police. Carlos Fernando Chamorro, director of that research journal and Cristiana’s brother, maintained that his media outlet has no connection with the Violeta Foundation, as the regime alleges.

In social networks and government media, a smear campaign has been unleashed that justifies the case of laundering against journalists under the name “the Chamorro laundry.” As a result, this Monday the hunt for journalists began through subpoenas by the Prosecutor’s Office, an entity without credibility, since human rights organizations blame it for the manufacture of political cases that are disguised as common crimes since 2018, when they began the protests against the Ortega Administration.

The summons against the journalists clarifies that they are involved in the money laundering case against the Violeta Foundation and its former president. Although for now they have only been called for “an interview”, a step that normally precedes the opening of a criminal case.

“Within the plan to silence the independent press in Nicaragua, I was summoned this afternoon to a diligence tomorrow at 08.00. They intend to implicate me in the same arbitrary process of alleged ‘money laundering’ against Cristiana Chamorro, “said journalist María Lilly Delgado.

On Monday night, Cristiana Chamorro reported that her accounts were frozen by the Government. “In the midst of all this crude farce, the dictatorship has frozen my bank accounts and lifted bank secrecy. I reject and denounce this arbitrariness, “wrote the presidential candidate.