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Managua (AFP) – Five mayoralties in the hands of the Nicaraguan opposition were “arbitrarily taken over” by councilors from President Daniel Ortega’s party, who appointed new pro-government mayors, the aggrieved denounced, with four months to go before the municipal elections.
These are municipalities that were led by authorities from the opposition party Ciudadanos por la Libertad (CxL, right), from which the government withdrew their legal status in 2021, a situation that was taken advantage of by councilors from the ruling ex-guerrilla Sandinista National Liberation Front. (FSLN).
The occupied municipal governments belong to the municipalities of El Cuá, San Sebastián de Yali and Santa María de Pantasma, jurisdiction of Jinotega (north); in addition to Murra, in the department of Nueva Segovia (north); and El Almendro, in Río San Juan (south). So far there is no official statement.
“The mayor’s offices have been taken over and the FSLN councilors already have their mayor and deputy mayor. They shared the positions among themselves,” the ousted mayor of San Sebastián de Yalí, Noel Moreno, told AFP.
The measure was executed under the allegation that “we do not have a party or legal status,” Moreno said.
The seizure of the mayor’s offices occurred between Saturday and Monday with the deployment of anti-riot forces under the command of political leaders of the FSLN, who raised the flag of that group in the occupied premises, according to the denouncers.
Ortega’s blow at the level municipal
“Four months before the municipal elections (November 6), the regime arbitrarily takes over four opposition mayors that were in the hands of the Ciudadanos por la Libertad (CxL-right) party,” denounced the electoral observation body Urnas Abiertas.
From exile, the president of CxL, Kitty Monterrey, “strongly condemned” the occupation of local governments and demanded “respect for her physical integrity.”
In 2017, the CxL won the elections in five of the 18 municipalities in opposition hands, while 135 went to the FSLN.
In August 2021, CxL, which was leading an opposition alliance to compete with Ortega in general elections, was disqualified by the electoral tribunal. The candidates for that group were prisoners.
Ortega, in power since 2007, was re-elected in November for a fourth consecutive term with most of his rivals imprisoned or exiled, amid questions and international sanctions.
Monterrey considered that the government “is confirming that it has no interest in rehabilitating the electoral process,” which it assures “remains essential for Nicaragua to come out of this deep crisis.”
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