“Purges, Corruption, and Servility to Putin”
Dora Maria Tellez: they punish “unauthorized corruption activities” because they want “high officials to owe everything to them”.
By Carlos F. Chamorro (Confidencial)
HAVANA TIMES – With a speech lasting more than 55 minutes, broadcast on national radio and television, Daniel Ortega celebrated the 45th anniversary of the ousting of Anastasio Somoza’s dictatorship at a party rally on July 19. The event highlighted the isolation of the Ortega family dictatorship, in the presence of officials from Russia, Belarus, Cuba, Venezuela, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, and Palestine.
In an interview with Esta Semana, broadcast this Sunday, July 21 on CONFIDENCIAL’s YouTube channel, Dora María Téllez, historian and political activist, analyzed Daniel Ortega’s speech, as well as what the official images did not show: the increased repression and political surveillance before July 19, the new purges in the Government, and the imprisonment by orders of Vice President Rosario Murillo of high-ranking retired military officers, accused of “unauthorized corruption activities”.
This Friday marked the end of the partisan celebration of July 19, which began several months ago with a wave of repression and police surveillance against hundreds of people who were placed under a de facto house arrest regime. Why does this repressive wave always erupt in the days leading up to July 19?
Dora María Téllez: They have an immense fear of any activity that they cannot control. With each passing day, the obsession of the Ortega-Murillo regime is to control absolutely everything. There was total control over the very setting and the staging of July 19, where every person had to remain seated. In other words, they hold enormous power and an immense fear of the situation getting out of hand, which is evidence of their political fragility within Nicaragua.
The new purge and “unauthorized corruption”
In the last few days, another wave of purges has increased. We have seen arrests of high-ranking public officials and also of former military and police officers who are allegedly being investigated for “unauthorized corruption activities” by the regime’s leadership. What is behind this new purge?
Dora María Téllez: I see the hand of Rosario Murillo with the absolute complacency of Daniel Ortega. It is a political purge, that is to say, to accuse these high officials of the Ortega-Murillo regime of corruption is very easy, they’re all full of it. There is not one of them who has a clean portfolio.
So it is quite easy to accuse them of corruption. Ultimately, it’s a political purge, a sweep aimed at establishing in high-level public positions people who are unconditionally loyal to Rosario Murillo and owe her a favor.
On the other hand, this purge has to do with a warning to all public employees and especially the high officials: – whoever moves a little bit, will be removed from the picture and can end up in El Chipote [prison] or fired, in the least severe of cases. They would be mistreated with a high probability of ending up in La Modelo or the women’s prison.
This is their way of warning public employees of the situation in which they find themselves. These are people who are politically active by force, who are deeply unhappy because they are in prison in Nicaragua, they are mistreated in their jobs, and they have enormous instability and fear. So, the purpose of the Ortega family is to maintain a regime of terror over public employees in all institutions. You’ll see that the INSS will continue because they have a great stash there, and surely, any day now, they could lose the favor of the Ortega family and face retribution.
Is this part of Rosario Murillo’s succession to power? That is, the targets being selected—for example, the Deputy Foreign Minister was an ally of Rosario Murillo, now fallen from grace, Ar