(Managua) Former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua Víctor Hugo Tinoco, imprisoned with several opponents of Daniel Ortega’s government, has been placed under house arrest due to health problems, a rights organization reported on Tuesday. of the person.
Posted yesterday at 8:44 p.m.
Mr. Tinoco, 69, “is at home with a few members of his family, all incommunicado,” said the NGO Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh), which documents the legal proceedings of opponents.
“The authorities must clarify his state of health, which aroused concern after it was reported that his life was in serious danger in (the prison of) El Chipote”, demanded the Cenidh on social networks.
Six other opposition prisoners, elderly and in poor health, were also placed under house arrest.
A former comrade in arms of Ortega during the fight against the Somoza dictatorship, the ex-diplomat was arrested in June and sentenced to 13 years in prison for undermining national integrity.
Mr Tinoco split from Ortega two decades ago over differences within the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).
Like him, more than 40 opponents, including seven presidential candidates, were arrested in 2021 and sentenced to terms ranging from eight to thirteen years in prison.
The government accuses them of plotting to overthrow the president, with the support of Washington.
Daniel Ortega, a former guerrilla in power since 2007, won a fourth consecutive term in November.
In March, Cristian Tinoco, daughter of the ex-diplomat, warned that her father’s state of health was “serious”, with heart rhythm disorders, hypertension and a drop in white blood cells indicating defenses abnormally weak immune systems.
She spoke out about her father’s medical situation after former guerrilla fighter Hugo Torres died in hospital on February 12 after eight months in prison.
Despite tensions with the United States, officials from Joe Biden’s administration have acknowledged that there is “a series of bilateral communications” with Managua to press for the release of opponents.