We replicate below the text of the International Campaign for the Freedom of Political Prisoners in Nicaragua, which the ISL is promoting together with Central American organizations, such as the PRT of Costa Rica, Alternativa Anticapitalista de Nicaragua (section of the ISL) and other socialist and revolutionary forces of the region.
On the morning of June 13, 2021, Dora María Téllez, heroine of the Sandinista revolution in the late 70’s, was arrested. Along with Dora María, Ana Vijil, member of the Sandinista Renovation Movement, who were also arrested.
On February 1, 2022, the trials of 36 political prisoners who were detained in June 2021 considered dangerous for the Ortega government, among them, Dora María Téllez, the young activist Yader Parajón, whose brother was killed in the April days by the repression of the dictatorship and the student leader Lesther Alemán who publicly confronted Daniel Ortega during the 2018 uprising, after the Sandinista government implemented an adjustment plan dictated by the International Monetary Fund.
Among those plans, an attack on the pension system was promoted, which provoked a popular uprising led by young university students shouting “don’t mess with our grandparents”. The revolt was crushed, 300 people were murdered, 1,000 were injured, there were 115 political prisoners and 70,000 people were exiled.
On February 3, Dora María and Lesther Alemán were sentenced to 15 years in prison for the crimes of “undermining national integrity” and “conspiracy”. Yader Parajón was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the same crimes. This news outrages us and fills us with rage, as well as the inhumane treatment that has been given to the political prisoners including beatings, torture and lack of due process.
Family members and eyewitnesses denounce that Dora María was beaten during her detention. Ana María Vigil has also been convicted on the same charges. The trials have been held behind closed doors, with total secrecy, inside the dungeons where the capitalist government of Daniel Ortega holds hostage all those he considers “opponents”; their families have been denied the right to be present during the trial. According to Dora Maria’s lawyers, the trials should be held in court, not in prison.
The relatives of the political prisoners have denounced this maneuver by the government to prevent images from being leaked to the media that would show the physical and emotional deterioration they are in, as a result of the torture they are suffering.
For this reason, social, political, union and student organizations, as well as people in solidarity with the cause of the Nicaraguan people against the dictatorship of Ortega and the FSLN, demand that an international commission be organized to visit and document the conditions in which the political prisoners are in Nicaragua, their physical and mental state of health, that the Nicaraguan government withdraw all accusations against the political prisoners and that they be released.
In solidarity
First signatures:
Alternativa Anticapitalista de Nicaragua-ISL; Grupo de Trabajadores Socialistas (Colombia); Impulso Socialista de (Colombia-ISL); Dave Turpin, Committees against War and for the People’s Self-determination (United States of America); Movimiento Socialista de los Trabajadores MST-ISL in FITUnidad of Argentina; Jesús Valdez, editor @Revolucion / La Marx Mexico; Tomás Andino Mencía, former UD national deputy and popular activist (Honduras); David Velasco, Section 22 CNTE / La Marx Mexico; Lorena Zayas Cruz, Section 22 CNTE / La Marx Mexico; Ofelia Rivera, Section XXII CNTE (Mexico); Guillermo Carvajal Alvarado, professor at the University of Costa Rica; Jennifer Valeska Sánchez Morales, economist (Nicaragua); Humberto Bautista, secretary general of the Union of Workers’ Union (Nicaragua); Humberto Bautista, secretary general of the Union of Workers’ Union (Nicaragua).
General Secretary of the Sindicato de Trabajadores del Sistema de Transporte Colectivo Metro “Libertad” (Mexico); Víctor Segura Ramírez, Organizational Secretary of the Sindicato de Empleados del Patronato Nacional de Infancia (PANI) (Mexico); and
(PANI), Costa Rica; Franklin Quesada Campos, Director of the Central General de Trabajadores (CGT), Costa Rica; Generando Movimiento de General Motors de Silao, Guanajuato (Mexico); Carlos Lanza, curator and art critic (Honduras); Vladimir de la Cruz, Historian, Member of the University Council of the Universidad Estatal a Distancia (Costa Rica); Raymundo Hernández, General Coordinator of the Emiliano Hernández
General of the Emiliano Zapata Brigades of Mexico (BEZ-Mexico); María José Herrera, mother of the Commission of the International Campaign Where is Camila Cinali? Desaparecida por Trata (Argentina); Ernesto García Linares, popular activist (El Salvador); José Ángel Garrido, Trotskyist militant and specialist in Spanish language (Panama); Allan Duarte, internationalist lawyer (Guatemala); Professor Rafael Capellán (Dominican Republic); Greta Roquero, journalist (Argentina); Rebeca Monteiro, lawyer (Brazil); Gisele Sifroni, Professor, Federal University of Amazonas, (Brazil); Celina Contu, lawyer (Argentina); Movimiento Revolucionario Socialista (Brazil); Juventud Socialista (Honduras); Patricia Ramos Con, lawyer (Argentina); Patricia Ramos Con, lawyer (Brazil); Gisele Sifroni, Professor, Federal University of Amazonas, (Brazil).
Ramos Con, lawyer, Gender Equity Office of the Technological Institute of Costa Rica; Stella Chinchilla, independent popular communicator (Costa Rica); Juan Carlos Zamora Ureña, sociologist, university professor (Costa Rica); Juan Carlos Zamora Ureña, sociologist, university professor (Costa Rica), sociologist, university professor (Costa Rica); Dr. Luisa Liliana Hermosilla, Salta, (Argentina); Daniel Campos, Marxist economiST (Argentina); Mariano Cordero, labor lawyer, Chihuahua (Mexico); Tobías Fernández, public school teacher (Dominican Republic); Rafael Encarnación of Militantes Revolucionarios Socialistas (MRS) of the Dominican Republic; Adrián Jaén España, sociologist and national leader of the Bloque de Vivienda, (Costa Rica); Grace Serrano, member of the Bloque de Vivienda, Upala (Costa Rica); Socorro Treorro, member of the Bloque de Vivienda, Upala, (Costa Rica); Socorro Treorro Trevino, member of the Bloque de Vivienda (Costa Rica).
(Costa Rica); Socorro Trejos, María José Lechado and María de los Ángeles Téllez, Comité de Lucha por Vivienda Monte Alto Alajuelita, Bloque de Vivienda (Costa Rica); Mariano Cordero, labor lawyer, Chihuahua (Mexico); Ana Laura Hernández / La Marx Mexico; La Marx Mujeres / Plataforma internacional
against Feminicides and Disappearances; La Voz del Anahuac (Mexico); Frente Popular Francisco Villa Independiente (Mexico); Frente del Pueblo (Mexico), Mariano Diaz / Grupo Socialista Obrero Mexico; Dr. Olivo Garcia / La Marx Mexico; Miguel Barrios Gutierrez, construction worker and PRT activist Costa Rica; David Morera Herrera, housing block (Mexico); Mariano Cordero, labor lawyer, Chihuahua (Mexico); Mariano Cordero, labor lawyer, Chihuahua (Mexico) Rica; David Morera Herrera, sociologist Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica; Alejandro Benedetti, journalist, Argentina / Editor of @Revolución and militant of the New PST; Jean Moreno, High School teacher (Costa Rica); Rafael Morera Ramos, High School student (Costa Rica); La Marx (Mexico;) Partido Revolucionario de las y los Trabajadores (Costa Rica); Grupo Socialista Obrero (Mexico);
Nuevo Partido Socialista de los Trabajadores (Argentina); La Marx (Brazil); La Marx (Mexico); Núcleo Trotskista Internacionalista-Cuarta Internacional (Mexico) Angélica Lagunas, Member of Congress for Izquierda Socialista en el Frente de Izquierda de Trabajadores – Unidad- (FIT-U), current General Secretary of Aten Capital (Argentina); Mónica Schlotthauer and Juan Carlos Giordano, deputy for Izquierda Socialista en el FIT-U (Argentina); Mercedes de Mendieta, national deputy elected Izquierda Socialista en el FIT-U (Argentina); Mónica Schlotthauer and Juan Carlos Giordano, national deputy elected Izquierda Socialista en el FIT-U (Argentina); Mercedes Trimarchi and Pablo Almeida, legislators elected CABA Izquierda Socialista en el FIT-U (Argentina); Noelia Aguero, legislator of Córdoba Izquierda Socialista en el FIT-U (Argentina); Noelia Aguero, legislator of Córdoba Izquierda Socialista en el FIT-U (Argentina).
Córdoba Izquierda Socialista in FIT-U (Argentina); Blanca López, legislator for Neuquén Izquierda Socialista in FIT-U (Argentina); Pablo Heller and Rafael Santos, for Partido Obrero (PO) leadership in FIT-U (Argentina); among other signatures. To join this petition follow this link.