Nicaraguan opposition group appoints official spokespersons

The Monteverde group appointed opposition members Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Félix Maradiaga, Támara Dávila and Carmen Chamorro, as official spokespersons of a process of “concentration” in Nicaragua.

Three of the four spokespersons, with the exception of Carmen Chamorro, were imprisoned prior to the November 2021 general elections and released last February. Also, they were stripped of their Nicaraguan nationality and their assets confiscated by the family dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.

According to Monteverde, the four spokespersons were chosen “in a spirit of unity and consensus.”

After being elected, its members ratified their commitment and their “struggle for democracy” and denounced the regime for the hundreds of murders that have occurred in the country since April 2018.

“We promise to continue working tirelessly in the search for justice and, above all, to support the families of the victims. Likewise, in support of the people and organizations that defend human rights that have already initiated legal processes in international jurisdictions that accept the principles of universality and extraterritoriality to address these cases, as Argentina has done,” Maradiaga said in a written statement.

Meanwhile, Tamara Davila rejected “the intensified repression of the Ortega Murillo dictatorship and the cruelty against the Catholic Church and the life of Monsignor (Rolando) Álvarez, (sentenced by a kangaroo court to more than 26 years in prison for treason)”.

The members of the Monteverde process ratified “their commitment to fight, with a common vision, to achieve the freedom of our nation and lay the foundations of a true Rule of Law.”

At first, Monteverde named among his spokesmen the former politician and peasant leader, Medardo Mairena. However, hours after the group made its public pronouncement, Mairena declined the position arguing that he was “misunderstood” in the meeting in which Monteverde's spokespersons were chosen and that he only accepted to be spokesperson for “a process of unity”.

The Monteverde Group

On Wednesday, June 28, a process of “unity in opposition action” was announced, promoted by the Monteverde group, organized in exile in Costa Rica since 2021, which now includes those released from political prison, including at least four former presidential candidates exiled in the United States.

For four days, more than forty political and civic leaders met in the United States, including Daisy George, Suyen Barahona, Tamara Davila, Juan Sebastian Chamorro, Felix Maradiaga, Violeta Granera, Eliseo Nuñez, Miguel Mora, Jesus Téfel, Medardo Mairena, Alexa Zamora, Alex Hernandez, Jose Antonio Peraza, Luciano García, and Juan Diego Barberena.

The group seeks to form a plan of unity in action to end the dictatorship and lay the foundations for a democratic transition in Nicaragua.

This article was originally published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by Havana Times.