6 de agosto 2024
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Daniel Ortega's chief presidential bodyguard, Commissioner General Marcos Alberto Acuña Avilés, was dismissed on the orders of Rosario Murillo, Vice President and wife to Ortega, on July 24, 2024, after being in the service of Ortega's personal security for more than 25 years.
Acuña had been part of Ortega's police security team since the 1990s, and since January 10, 2007, he became head of the presidential bodyguard. In 2014, he was promoted to the rank of general commissioner through a Presidential Agreement that also promoted Justo Pastor Urbina, Juan Ramón Gámez Morales, José Esteban Guido Espinoza, and Julio Cesar Paladino Roiz in rank.
Sources linked to the National Police confirmed to CONFIDENCIAL that Acuña's fall, ordered by Murillo, occurred after "he had a discussion with the vice-president" on July 24, regarding a situation and a subject they could not identify.
A former Ortega government official described Commissioner General Acuña as "a very professional officer, polite and respectful, with total dedication to him, not to her".
Between 2007 and 2010, Acuña was promoted to deputy commissioner, commissioner and later to major commissioner. According to the newspaper La Prensa, these three promotions should have cost him at least 15 years of service in the institution, but he was rewarded for his loyalty to Ortega.
Tension between Rosario Murillo and Alberto Acuña
Sources linked to the National Police revealed that in recent months the "tense relations" between Murillo and Commissioner General Acuña were visible.
The same night of his dismissal, Acuña was admitted to the Carlos Roberto Huembes Hospital, which serves the National Police, "so that they could stabilize him, because his blood pressure had risen". Since then he has been held incommunicado in the hospital, guarded by National Police officers.
Meanwhile, within the Secretariat of the Sandinista Front in El Carmen, the name of his replacement has already been selected, from a police institution under the intervention of the Government party.
Ortega and Murillo's exorbitant security detail
A report by CONFIDENCIAL, published in February 2018, revealed how the security apparatus for Ortega and Murillo has increased, tripling for their outings during special dates, such as the anniversary of the Revolution on July 19th.
The report described that for an outing that Ortega and Murillo made from El Carmen to the Hossana Church, a distance of about 8.5 kilometers, there was an average of three agents every 200 meters to guard the passage of the presidential caravan.
In other words, about 40 guard posts were destined for this operation, equivalent to approximately 120 agents in total. Additionally, the figure should include the total number of traffic agents stationed at each traffic light along the route to stop traffic at the time of the presidential passage.
A police source told CONFIDENCIAL that in those routes there are undercover police agents, dressed in civilian clothes, and the so-called "Blue Shirts," a paramilitary group recognized by the National Police, which has also been in charge of Ortega and Murillo's security.
That year, before the 2018 protests, the Police had planned to execute "802 security and protection plans for the President and Vice President of the Republic." The General Budget of the Republic of that year detailed that 211,322,888 córdobas (roughly 5.7 million dollars) were allocated for for "Protection of Personalities."
"Protection of Personalities" is within the budget of the police institution and its function is, according to the official document, "to determine schedules of events and activities of the president, vice president, and members of the branches of government".
However, it does not detail the specific amount destined for the security of Ortega and Murillo in particular. The budget for "Protection of Personalities" for 2024 is 231,393,062 córdobas (approximately 6.3 million dollars), according to the General Budget of the Republic.
This article was published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by our staff. To get the most relevant news from our English coverage delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to The Dispatch.
