5 de junio 2021
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On the heels of disqualifying and kidnapping presidential candidate Cristiana Chamorro earlier in the week, on Saturday, the Ortega regime arrested another presidential candidate, Arturo Cruz.
According to a statement from the Public Ministry, Cruz is allegedly being investigated by the National Police “for having strong indications that he attacked Nicaraguan society and the rights of the people.”
The former Nicaraguan ambassador in Washington was arrested this morning at the Managua International Airport, upon returning from a trip to the United States, according to sources in his communication team.
“The plane landed at 9:00 a.m. He is being held incommunicado and nothing is known about his whereabouts,” the source said.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Cruz “attacked” Nicaraguan society in accordance with the provisions of the “Law in Defense of the Rights of the People to Independence, Sovereignty and Self-determination for Peace”, better known as the “Guillotine Law.”
The legislation, approved last December, establishes that “Nicaraguans who lead or finance a coup, who alter the constitutional order, who encourage or incite terrorist acts, who carry out acts that undermine the independence, sovereignty, self-determination of Nicaragua, lose their political rights and cannot seek public office.
The Prosecutor’s Office assures that “within the terms of the law, (Cruz) will be presented before the competent judicial authority.”
Cruz criticized the candidate disqualifications
On Friday, Cruz warned that “if the dance of disqualifications continues and we are left without other candidates, the logical thing is that I will not participate in that electoral process.”
Cruz’s warning came after a statement from the Supreme Electoral Council that reminded political parties and alliances that their presidential candidacies must comply with “all the provisions and requirements.”
The Electoral Power, under Daniel Ortega’s total control, refers to laws approved to inhibit leaders of the April 2018 Rebellion from seeking the Citizens Alliance for Freedom (ACxL) nomination, the only electoral vehicle left to the opposition. According to candidates and analysts consulted by Confidencial, those laws restrict the registration of several candidates with popular roots in their selection mechanism.
Cruz, who is registered in the ACxL selection mechanism, recalled that when he entered the presidential race he was “very clear” that he would not be “part of an electoral farce.”
Cristiana Chamorro, now incommunicado under house arrest, was about to register as another candidate for the ACxL alliance when she was suddenly disqualified.
“My commitment is to a competitive process,” said Arturo Cruz. “If that possibility disappears, I must seriously reconsider participating in this spurious exercise,” he added on a Twitter thread.
