22 de febrero 2021
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Two bikers attacked Dr. Jose Luis Borge, a member of the Nicaraguan Medical Unit, while he was waiting in his vehicle to enter the “La Virgen” roundabout in Managua. The attackers shouted “coup monger” at him at the moment they hit him with an object the doctor could not identify. It all happened very quickly, he said. They caused a superficial wound of about five centimeters.
Borge was on the way to pick up one of his children from school. , Two individuals on a motorcycle approached the window of his vehicle and hit him.
The urology specialist was fired from the Antonio Lenin Fonseca public hospital for treating the injured in the civic rebellion starting April 2018.
The blow was to the head and although the wound was not serious, it bled a lot, he told Confidencial. All this happened in an area heavily guarded by riot and traffic police. They were precisely carrying out an operation at the other end of the roundabout, but it was like “nothing happened here,” says the doctor.
Borge described what he considers the intent of the attack. He sees it as “the work of intimidation, which they are doing against all those who they believe are opponents of the regime.”
Borge added that he was unable to recognize the faces of the attackers. They were wearing helmets and other elements that did not allow their faces to be identified. Just like “the paramilitaries and government people do.”
This is the third time that the doctor has suffered a direct attack by people linked to the Ortega regime. The first occurred in November 2019, when he was evaluating the physical condition of mothers of political prisoners, when they began a hunger strike at the Managua Cathedral. They were demanding their children be freed. That time they beat the doctor and stole his cell phone, he recalls.
Since the cathedral was taken over by Sandinista mobs, the Nicaraguan Red Cross evacuated the mothers of prisoners and the doctor. However, that same day, the doctor experienced a second assault. He was kidnapped by hooded persons, who held him for more than 24 hours.
Borge considers these attacks as “an incitement to violence. These folks would like the people, those who oppose Ortega, to take to the streets with weapons. However, that is not going to happen, because the decision is the civic path. It seems that they want to force the path of violence,” the doctor contended.
“Civil death” for dismissed doctors
Borge is one of at least 400 health workers who were fired by the Ministry of Health (MINSA), in 2018. The reason being they disobeyed the order to refuse to treat the injured in April. He has been a critical voice against the Government ever since, demanding the reinstatement of the specialists.
He points out the “civil death” facing all doctors who were fired in 2018. They cannot work in any public institution. And, in the case of the private ones, there are other inconveniences. There are always people infiltrated who inform. Therefore, the administrations find themselves in the dilemma of whether to hire them. Many choose against it to avoid possible reprisals against the company, Borge lamented.
The doctor is one of dozens of people who remain under police siege. Until two weeks ago, a patrol parked outside his house. On one occasion they prevented him from leaving his home. However, currently, the patrols no longer park, they only drive by and sound their sirens.
