Nicaragua's Police Spread Fear With Arrests, Raids

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA - It was around 10:30 p.m. on a Sunday when journalist Verónica Chávez heard a loud noise as she put her son to bed. She looked out to see her husband, Miguel Mora, frantically trying to open the door to their home as members of Nicaragua's police tried to kick it in. 

Mora, a presidential hopeful and the former director of the news outlet 100% Noticias, shouted for the police to stop kicking so he could open the door for them.   "They were shouting, kicking, and Miguel was trying to open the door and was saying 'Here I am,'" Chávez said through tears. "They said, 'Come out,' but as he was going to open, they didn't stop kicking the door."   Mora was arrested in 2018, as well, and jailed for nearly six months as Ortega's government violently put down street protests that he says were an attempted coup.