• Nicaragua Ortega strengthens the dictatorship

Nicaraguan authorities detained a former beauty queen who aspired to participate in the November presidential elections, her party said, as the government of President Daniel Ortega shows no signs of ending the crackdown on the opposition.

For months, the Ortega government has been detaining political adversaries, including presidential hopefuls, ahead of an election in which the former Marxist guerrilla and Cold War antagonist from Washington will run for a fourth consecutive term.

Berenice Quezada,

who was Miss Nicaragua in 2017, was arrested at her home Tuesday night and placed under house arrest, her Alianza Ciudadana por la Libertad (ACXL) party said.

"Quezada ... is under house arrest without access to a telephone, with immigration restrictions and forbidden to run for public office," tweeted the Alianza Ciudadana party. "We demand that she be released and that the human rights of Berenice Quezada be respected."

The Alianza Ciudadana signed Quezada on Monday as the running mate of

Oscar Sobalvarro,

a businessman and former right-wing rebel commander of the Contras, the U.S.-backed guerrilla groups that fought against Ortega's Sandinista government in the 1980s.

Nicaraguan authorities could not be immediately reached to confirm Quezada's house arrest.

The news outlet 'Confidencial de Nicaragua' reported on Tuesday that a

"crime of terrorism"

complaint had been filed

against Quezada on Tuesday with the Nicaraguan electoral council for his critical comments about the lack of freedoms in the Central American nation.

Washington and the European Union have imposed sanctions on members of Ortega's family, including his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, as well as key figures within the government, warning that the November 7 elections cannot be free with the majority of Ortega's opponents jailed.

Many business figures, journalists and politicians have

fled

abroad in recent months in anticipation of arrest.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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