US calls for immediate release of Nicaraguan opposition figure

Cristiana Chamorro and two of her colleagues were arrested on ‘trumped up charges’, US State Department says.

The United States called on Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s government on Friday to immediately release detained opposition leader Cristiana Chamorro and two of her colleagues. “Their detention on trumped-up charges is an abuse of their rights, and it represents an assault on democratic values, as well as a clear attempt to thwart free and fair elections,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price said. Chamorro was placed under house arrest after her home was raided by Nicaraguan police on June 2 in an escalating political battle before November elections in which Ortega is seeking to maintain his grip on power.