Students from Nicaraguan state universities are denouncing that they are being expelled from their institutions, and then turned over to the police and accused of terrorism for participating in the protests against the dictatorial regime of Daniel Ortega.
“As we are return to school, the police are going to have our names and faces, because there is a complaint against us from the Prosecutor’s Office,” a student from the La Prensa newspaper explained. The student, who attends the National University of Engineering (UNI), did not want to identify himself in order to avoid reprisals
It is dangerous to be a student in Nicaragua
The National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN-Managua) was already carrying out a similar process in which they expelled certain students, who days later were captured and presented as terrorists.
It should be noted that more than a hundred students have already been expelled for political reasons, while eight students have been accused of terrorism at the UNAN in Managua. Among them is Jonathan Lopez, a member of the Articulation of Social Movements and the Civic Alliance.
“Many people say that in our country it is dangerous to be young, I would add that it is even more dangerous to be a student because the authorities see someone with a backpack and they begin to persecute him, arrest him, and violate his civil rights,” argued Pablo Cuevas, a lawyer from the Permanent Commission of Human Rights (CPDH).
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
