little by little was becoming weaker and weaker. he asked for medical attention, which was always denied. so the death of hugo torres is only one more example of the police state and the inhumane situation in which 0rtega keeps most. nicaragua s entire nicaragua is under arrest. even nicaraguans who think they can work freely are deprived of theirfreedom. nicaragua has become a huge prison. well, you were, as you ve already acknowledged, you were actually formally sentenced to 13 years for, quote, conspiracy to undermine national integrity. but the fact is, you were arrested and imprisoned when you had declared that you were going to run for the presidency of nicaragua back in 2021. do you think that was the reason that 0rtega wanted you out of action? i think it was the reason. in my case, i ve devoted my entire life to promote human rights in nicaragua, first as a civil servant in charge of demobilisation and the reintegration of former combatants, and later
nicaragua is under arrest. even nicaraguans who think they can work freely are deprived of their freedom. nicaragua has become a huge prison. well, you were, as you ve already acknowledged, you were actually formally sentenced to 13 years for, quote, conspiracy to undermine national integrity. but the fact is, you were arrested and imprisoned when you had declared that you were going to run for the presidency of nicaragua back in 2021. do you think that was the reason that 0rtega wanted you out of action? i think it was the reason. in my case, i ve devoted my entire life to promote human rights in nicaragua, first as a civil servant in charge of demobilisation and the reintegration of former combatants, and later as an academic. but not only in my personal case, as someone who opposed 0rtega, those who opposed 0rtega from the platform ofjournalism, those
any contact with our family members for as long as a0 to 90 days. meetings with our relatives took place under police surveillance, but towards the end of last year, our families were allowed to bring food to many of us. and that was a small signal, a hopeful one, that something positive could happen outside. but at that time, as it was my case and the case of the other presidential candidates arrested and the other activists, we already had been condemned to many years in prison, in my case, 13 years sentence. this is a difficult question in a way, but i am very mindful that one political prisoner who was held in the same wave of detentions as you, he did not survive. and i know the conditions you ve described, you say were awful. i believe for a time you were actually held in complete darkness. i just wonder how close to the limits of your endurance, your ability
but i think that going back to being a strategic, he is not because he erased with one hand what he wrote with the other. i think that if he had not done things such as keeping prison, bishop alvarez in prison and other 35 political prisoners, stripping us from our nationality and so on. i think that probably dialogue would be on the table from the perspective of the american governments and other governments. but i can be certain that we are not going to see any relaxation of international pressure precisely because 0rtega has proved that he is focused on his own building, his dynasty and on keeping the police state. so 0rtega, if anything, is radicalizing and that needs to be very clear. and yet if one looks at the international reaction to what 0rtega has done, as you say, with the stripping of the citizenship, notjust of the 222 prisoners released, but also another 90 activists who have since had their citizenship taken away from them the latin american
who are student activists, human rights activists, everyone who wants to be outspoken against the 0rtega regime is persecuted and put into prison. you had a choice to make when they told you you could be released, because i believe they made it plain to you that release would involve immediate removalfrom nicaragua. you would be put on a plane and taken to the united states. now, as i understand it, some fellow prisoners of yours, other political prisoners, they chose not to do that deal. they refused and they are in prison. to this day, including high profile prisoners like the catholic bishop, rolando alvarez. he wanted to stay. why did you decide that you were prepared to leave your home country? well, it s the first time i want to share this publicly. i had made that promise to my wife. keep in mind that i already had an arrest warrant back in 2018. i went back to nicaragua. i was placed in house arrest prior to this