Nicaragua: in Costa Rica, opponents of Ortega give voice
The march of Nicaraguans from all over Costa Rica, in San José on November 7.
Neighboring Nicaragua, the country hosts more than 100,000 asylum seekers.
© RFI / Marie Normand
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
While Nicaraguans were invited to elect their president and their deputies, this Sunday, November 7, the opposition in exile took to the streets to call for a boycott of the ballot box.
This election does not deceive anyone: the five candidates registered to face Daniel Ortega are stooges compromised with power.
All of his serious rivals have been taken into custody.
The main march was in neighboring Costa Rica.
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With our special correspondent in San José,
Marie Normand
Costa Rica is the country that has welcomed the most Nicaraguans in exile since the start of the protests against President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, in April 2018. There are 103,500 in this neighboring country, according to the Directorate of Migration and Foreigners.
While their country was
voting
, about 3,000 of them gathered this Sunday in the center of the Costa Rican capital.
The demonstration ended around 7 p.m. (French time), in front of the National Assembly of Costa Rica, after a mile and a half of walking in the heart of San José in the rain.
About 3,000 people gathered in San José to demand the release of political prisoners and call on Nicaraguans to boycott the poll.
#Nicaragua @RFI pic.twitter.com/HcHzmcd9Ev
- Marie Normand (@normandmarie) November 7, 2021
Some participants came from far away, from the north of the country for example, with groups of peasants who have representatives
imprisoned
in Nicaragua.
► Read also: In Costa Rica, the Nicaraguan elections observed by the exiles
All had met in the morning, Nicaraguan blue and white flags in hand, symbol of the popular uprising of 2018 severely repressed at the time - more than 300 dead.
Today, it is no longer possible to display this flag in the street in Nicaragua, under penalty of imprisonment.
People who now walk with this flag on the streets in Nicaragua are arrested.
The authorities prefer that they come out with the flag of the Sandinista Front, the party in power, and that is it.
For them, the blue and white flag represented a danger.
They do not allow us there to freely say that there is no democracy in our country
Glaucia Luna, Nicaraguan flag against the government of Daniel Ortega
Marie Normand
Some came disguised, as a clown for example, to denounce, they said, a "
circus
", "
an electoral farce
", in short an election without real opposition, since about forty opponents were arrested, including seven presidential candidates. notably.
People whose demonstrators are of course demanding their release.
Noel, who presents himself as a veteran of the Nicaraguan army, and a former Sandinista, came disguised as a clown.
“It's a circus, not an election,” he explains.
#Nicaragua pic.twitter.com/UoHGiEGpWj
- Marie Normand (@normandmarie) November 7, 2021
This government has become a tragedy for us.
When Daniel Ortega came to power, he changed the whole original idea of the revolution.
He and his family began to get rich in dizzying ways.
If we put, we the opposition, a dog, a cat, or a horse in competition against him, we would win the elections.
Noël, as a clown, presents himself as a veteran of the army, who believed in the revolution
► Listen again: Gilles Bataillon evokes “the risk incurred for the abstainers” in Nicaragua
The exiles of Costa Rica also asked the Nicaraguans not to go to vote this Sunday, even to vote white;
to stay at home, so as not to give the impression of crowds in front of the polling stations.
Finally, they called on the international community not to recognize the election results, or even to impose sanctions on the Ortega government.
Saying this in Nicaragua, even on social networks, is currently enough to find himself imprisoned, for an indefinite period, for treason to the motherland.
This falls under new laws passed recently, which effectively suppress all freedom of expression in the country.
Similar protests in support of Nicaragua were organized in Barcelona, Spain and Miami, United States.
Twenty-five marches were planned around the world in total.
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Nicaragua
Costa Rica
Daniel ortega
Human rights