Nicaragua government arrests another prominent opponent

The government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has arrested another child of the woman who once defeated him for the presidency

MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- The government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has arrested another child of former leader Violeta Chamorro, the woman who once defeated him for the presidency, in the runup to elections this year. Former Congressman Pedro Joaquin Chamorro Barrios was arrested late Friday, accused of acts against “the sovereignty and independence” of Nicaragua, according to authorities. He is the brother of presidential aspirant Cristiana Chamorro, who has been under house arrest since June 2, and journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, who recently announced he had left the country to avoid arrest. The siblings are children of Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, whose 1978 assassination made him a martyr of the struggle against dictator Anastasio Somoza, who was overthrown by the Sandinista forces led by Ortega in 1979.