Testimony
Nicaragua: the great figure Dora María Téllez honorary doctor in Paris
Dora María Téllez, former commander of the Sandinista guerrillas and leader of the MRS party, opponent of President Ortega's government, in Managua in 2012. AFP - HECTOR RETAMAL
Text by: Achim Lippold Follow
5 mins
The Nicaraguan academic Dora María Téllez, a former Sandinista commander who became a dissident from the Ortega regime, received the title of doctor honoris causa from the Sorbonne in Paris.
The activist has been imprisoned for more than a year and a half in her country.
His friend, journalist Carlos Chamorro, who lives in exile in Costa Rica, traveled to France last week to receive the award on his behalf.
On this occasion, RFI met him to discuss the situation in Nicaragua.
Testimony.
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Dora María Téllez is a historical figure of the Sandinista revolution.
Historian, intellectual, guerrilla, known as "Comandante 2", she is involved in the fight against the Somoza regime.
When the latter is overthrown, she becomes Minister of Health.
In the 1990s, Dora María Téllez distanced herself from the Sandinista National Liberation Front, the FLSN, now under the control of Daniel Ortega.
She continues to criticize the authoritarian excesses of the Nicaraguan president, in particular the bloody repression of the 2018 demonstrations.
In February 2021, she was sentenced to eight years in prison for conspiracy against national sovereignty.
#DoctoratHonorisCausa
Eulogy of Dora Maria Tellez ARGÜELLO by Marie-Laure GEOFFRAY
"Dora Maria Tellez has never denied her convictions. She is and remains a politically progressive woman, committed to just, noble, and non-elitist causes."
pic.twitter.com/HgdqszBfAR
– New Sorbonne University (@Sorbonne_Nvelle) November 28, 2022
It is the journalist Carlos Chamorro, who received the title of doctor honoris causa from the Sorbonne in the name of Dora María Téllez.
We asked her how she reacted to the distinction of the prestigious Parisian university.
She's been in a solitary confinement cell for over 500 days already.
Every 50 days, she has the right to a visit from a relative, for one or two hours.
And it was during one of these visits that she learned that she had obtained this recognition.
She feels very honored to have received this award and dedicates it to all 225 political prisoners in Nicaragua.
Cruel peculiarity of her detention: she lives totally immersed in darkness.
And for good reason :
In the prison where she is detained, she has the right neither to read nor to write.
She is completely alone in her small cell, it is a prison of torture.
What the authorities want is to break the morale of the detainees.
You should also know that his trial took place in the prison itself.
Moreover, Dora María Téllez went on a hunger strike at the beginning of September to protest against her conditions of detention.
Is there any hope that she will be freed?
Not immediately, according to journalist Charlos Chamorro.
Hope lies in the emergence of greater national and international awareness.
There is only one thing to do: increase the political pressure on the Ortega regime.
Human rights organizations have documented the conditions of detention of political prisoners, the assassinations of opponents that took place in 2018 which all went unpunished.
But international pressure is not yet sufficient for the regime to accept the release of political prisoners.
Moreover, it would be the first step towards the liberation of Nicaragua.
Photo released by the Nicaraguan presidency showing Dora María Téllez arriving under police escort at the court for a hearing in Managua, August 31, 2022. AFP - CESAR PEREZ
Nicaragua has become an open-air prison, according to Carlos Chamorro, a country ruled by a family dictatorship.
The only objective for Daniel Ortega is to stay in power and to exercise a policy of revenge.
There is no political project, no ideological project.
This regime offers no future to the Nicaraguans, which is why they are leaving the country en masse.
The regime is only interested in its own survival, it is guided by the desire to turn into a dynasty.
Nicaragua is ruled by a family dictatorship.
Daniel Ortega's wife, Rosario Murillo, is the country's vice president.
And several of his children occupy positions of important political advisers.
Nicaragua has already been ruled by a dynasty, that of the Somozas, in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Today, it is a reissue of this family dynasty.
A family dynasty, that of Somoza, that the father of Carlos Chamorro, also a journalist, had fought, which he paid with his life.
As for his mother, Violeta Chamorro, she was elected president of Nicaragua in the 1990s.
► Listen again: Nicaragua: "The Ortega regime is only interested in its own survival"
Last year Carlos Chamorro's sister Cristiana wanted to run for president against Daniel Ortega.
But his candidacy, like those of other opponents, was banned by the courts.
She herself was placed under house arrest.
To escape the same fate, his brother Carlos decided to go into exile in Costa Rica a year and a half ago.
From exile, he runs the online newspaper Confidencial.
And he continues to cover Nicaragua, despite the fact that it is difficult to get reliable information.
We have sources on site and our first duty is to protect the identity of our sources, to guarantee their safety, because they are risking their lives by providing us with information.
The independent press is the last remaining freedom in Nicaragua.
It is vital to continue to cover this country and I call on my colleagues in the international press to continue to watch what is happening in Nicaragua.
There is a humanitarian and political emergency.
We are facing a major risk, that of the normalization of dictatorship and torture.
This crisis may last for years.
Our journalism today is a journalism of resistance.
Its survival and credibility depend on our ability to bring reliable information to the audience in Nicaragua and the world.
►Read again: Nicaragua: seven opponents of President Ortega sentenced to heavy prison terms
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