Five town halls in Nicaragua were raided by police in a crackdown against President Daniel Ortega’s opponents.
Citizens for Freedom lost its legal status during the presidential election last year, but its mayors continued to govern.
Now, the democratically elected mayors are being replaced by allies of President Daniel Ortega’s Party.
It was a “local coup” according to one official.
Locals reported that armed police officers invaded the town halls in four municipalities and ordered their mayors out of office on Monday. On Saturday, a fifth Citizens for Freedom mayor was already deposed.
Outside the offices, President Ortega’s red-and-black flag from Sandinista has been raised.
Kitty Monterrey (exiled leader of Citizens for Freedom) described the incident as an “arbitrary seizure” and a “new act of disrespect for citizens and institutions”.
She said that all the legitimately elected mayor offices under the flag Citizens for Freedom were taken by the regime, referring to President Ortega’s government.
These five municipalities were just 18 of the more than 150 in the country that are not under the control of Sandinista.
Although municipal elections will be held in November, many opposition politicians are in jail or exiled, and many parties have been stripped of their legal status. The opposition is unlikely to gain any ground.
After winning the 2021 presidential election, Daniel Ortega is currently serving a fourth term as president. His government has been widely condemned for limiting freedoms and crackingdown on his opponents.
It’s not only political parties that have been targeted. All legal statuses of universities, women’s rights groups, and non-governmental organizations promoting education were canceled.
In May, there was outrage when Nicaragua’s respected Academy of Languages had its status revoked by a decree passed by the Sandinista-controlled National Assembly.
The decree was drafted by a lawmaker who argued that the Academy of Languages, along with many other organizations banned by the same decree, had not disclosed their sources of funding.
