Ortega’s latest female political prisoners held in “isolation”

Relatives of Mayela Campos, Adela Espinoza and Gabriel Morales were allowed to visit them on Wednesday, August 29. The three young women were all detained without charges in the wake of the regime’s confiscation of the Central American University. They are being held at the La Esperanza Women’s Prison, part of the Nicaraguan Penitentiary System. Relatives assured that they “were well” emotionally but being kept “isolated” from the rest of the prison population.

Mayela Campos was in her third year at the National Engineering University, majoring in Industrial Engineering. Her sister, Tatiana Campos, stated that she’s “alone in a cell, apart from the rest of the prisoners.”  However, during the family visit she insisted, “she was fine and hadn’t been mistreated.”

Although Mayela has now been locked up for eleven days, her family still doesn’t know why she’s been detained. Their lawyer has informed them there’s still no accusation posted on the Judicial Power’s online system, and that the only thing they can do is “keep watching” the case.

“We don’t know what she’s accused of, or why they’re holding her in jail. They aren’t giving us any information,” Tatiana Campos commented.

Detained for posting on social media?

Mayela, however, believes they arrested her for a post on social media. “She told us it’s because of a video she shared, but we don’t know for sure,” affirmed the political prisoner’s sister.

Meanwhile, sources from the student sector confirmed that Adela Espinoza and Gabriela Morales, two other young women arrested within the same general context, also received visits from their families. Like Mayela, they’re being held in isolation in the woman’s prison, without knowing what they’re accused of.

Adela Espinoza, 26, is an UCA graduate who majored in Social Communication. She’s also a feminist activist, and the mother of two young children. In an interview that her mother, Flor Tercero, offered the online news site 100% Noticias, she confirmed that Adela participated actively in the 2018 protests and later joined a women’s organization. “She’s a feminist,” her mother emphasized.

Gabriela Morales is a Social Worker who graduated from the Juan Pablo University, a private center that was also confiscated by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. She too participated actively in the 2018 protests, and it’s thought that she’s been detained for some posts on social media.

This week, 54-year-old sociologist and activist Melba Damaris Hernandez, who participated in the student marches on the campus of the now-confiscated Central American University until 2020, was also arrested and locked up without charges. News of Hernandez’ detention came from a source linked to the Blue and White Unity Movement.

Melba Hernandez is also being held in the La Esperanza Women’s Prison. Her family states that they were able to leave her a food package in the prison and hope to be able to visit her on September 8th.

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