EX-NICARAGUAN VEEP URGES BOYCOTT OF POLLS RIGGED BY ORTEGA

Writer and former Nicaraguan Vice President Sergio Ramírez said Monday there is “zero possibility” of holding free elections in Nicaragua Nov. 7 and that opposition forces who participate would only be “legitimizing” President Daniel Ortega’s re-election, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

In an interview with AP from the United States where he was receiving medical treatment, the author of “Divine Punishment” said the 75-year-old Ortega had imposed a system of “terror” that prevents people from freely taking to the streets and that he will not tolerate any opposition electoral campaign.

“There is zero possibility (of free elections) and the political force that goes to the end will do a lot of damage to Nicaragua, it will be giving democratic credibility to a process that is corrupted beforehand,” said Ramírez, winner of the Miguel de Cervantes Prize in 2017.

“There is zero possibility (of free elections) and the political force that goes to the end will do a lot of damage to Nicaragua, it will be giving democratic credibility to a process that is corrupted beforehand,” said Ramírez, winner of the Miguel de Cervantes Prize in 2017.

“Elections where the majority of candidates who can oppose Ortega are in jail cannot be elections,” he said, referring to the arrests of five pre-candidates, among the nearly 20 arrests of leading opposition figures in recent weeks. The government has also excluded an opposition party that was going to be the vehicle for the National Coalition, a broad opposition to run against Ortega in the elections.

“The parties that go to the end, that accept electoral defeat and the seats they’re assigned in the National Assembly, are those that are going to give strength to Daniel Ortega to claim legitimacy in the elections,” Ramírez said.

“It is a very serious step.” The repression has raised the fear level throughout the country.

“A lot of people are leaving the country in a massive way, like hasn’t happened since 2018 and there is a lot of fear among people,” Ramírez said. “Nobody knows if they’re going to be the next one (detained by police), nobody knows whose house is going to be raided.”

After his defeat to Violeta Chamorro in 1990, Ortega would never consider handing over power again, he said. That means not allowing a candidate like her daughter, Cristiana Chamorro, who could potentially unite the opposition.

WEEKLY FEATURE : PAL READY TO SOAR WITH PANDEMIC