• Nicaragua The five 'fake' rivals of Daniel Ortega

  • Nicaragua Ortega's 'royal family': a tyrannical dynasty to subdue Nicaragua

Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo

assume their fourth consecutive term

, plus the 10 years of the last century at the head of the Sandinista revolution, after starring in

an electoral farce typical of the worst dictatorships

. Death, repression, torture, censorship and fear have accompanied some rigged and unrivaled votes that Nicaraguans rejected this Sunday in a massive way: staying at home within the country and protesting in exile.

On the way to 30 years of a despotic exercise in crescendo, surpassed only by Fidel Castro in Cuba and by the Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner,

Ortega went to vote from his bunker in El Carmen at an electoral point designed for his protection

, surrounded by bodyguards and with the company of his sympathizers placed there. At his side, as always, Vice President Murillo, who will become co-president of her own accord, an unknown figure in the Nicaraguan system.

"

Voting does not kill anyone

. These elections are, thank God, a sign, a commitment by Nicaraguans to vote for peace and not for war and terrorism," the candidate to the country lectured without embarrassment. Nor was it necessary to wait for the final result. In front, the five false rivals attended a day without full or glory knowing that their work will be rewarded.

The contrast was experienced in the streets of the country, semi-

deserted, a cry for freedom in the face of "Ortega murillismo", as the intellectuals define the regime that has subjected Nicaragua. Despite the harassment against activists and journalists, the absence of international media and the veto of electoral observers,

citizens reflected the reality through their mobile phones,

the same ones that have collected since 2018 the terror imposed by the dictatorship.

The strategy was clear: that there is no evidence of electoral fraud and abstention,

which appeared massively thanks to the "closed doors" day launched by the opposition

. "Now you can tell the world, the regime failed. The streets are empty," Catholic Father Edwing Román, chaplain in Masaya, confirmed for EL MUNDO.

Precisely against the rebel city of Masaya

, the Ortega forces were used to the full

, detaining and persecuting activists and journalists, even forcing several of them to flee through the nearest border.

Despite the persecution, the images of desolation were repeated in Managua, León, Matagalpa, from almost all parts of Nicaragua in what

appears to be a "palmado" country, as the Nicaraguan say when there is no atmosphere at all

.

"It is essential to redouble international pressure to demand the release of political prisoners and the restoration of democracy," said José Miguel Vivanco, director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch (HRW),

after highlighting the massive deficiencies in the electoral process

.

"These elections cannot be legitimized,

the world must ignore them. We repudiate this electoral circus

. That the photo of the murderers appears on the electoral ballots says it all," Yadira Córdoba, a member of the Mothers of April, summed up for EL MUNDO the head of the great protest that today leads the exile in San José, Costa Rica. Paramilitaries

blew out his Orlando's head

during the 2018 protests. He was only 15 years old.

"The police are now walking the streets of our Masaya, my family is all in the house," added Azucena López, the mother of Erick Jiménez, one of

the more than 300 fatalities during the savage repression

of the Sandinista government.

"We have a lot of faith in the world, even Europe has sanctioned them. But we need a stronger hand against the repressors," he concluded.

158 political prisoners

In all the mobilizations, the 158 political prisoners were "present" and, especially, the seven pre-candidates imprisoned by the regime because any of them

would have defeated the leader without much difficulty, according to all the polls

. Former ambassador Arturo Cruz, activist Félix Maradiaga, economist Juan Sebastián Chamorro, journalist Miguel Mora, peasant leader Medardo Mairena and conservative leader Noel Vidaurre remain behind bars,

the majority in the sinister El Chipote prison

. Cristiana Chamorro, the daughter of former President Violeta Barrios, remains in seclusion at her own home.

The arrival of 250 peasants to the march in San José was greeted with joy

, as if it were the Seventh Cavalry.

It is about the group that has built a new home in Upala, very close to the border.

In front, the peasant leader Chica Ramírez, who has already stood up against Ortega and the construction of the gigantic canal that crossed the peasant lands.

Student Bryan, 19, has been with the farmers for two years.

He narrowly fled the repression

and found a new life in Upala since 2019. "I only hope that we can return at some point. And that Spain does not forget us!"

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