Authorities in Nicaragua have arrested at least 60 people for reportedly celebrating or expressing support for the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, a human rights watchdog group and local media outlets said Friday.
Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega and his wife, vice president Rosario Murillo, are staunch allies of Maduro, who was captured by US military personnel in Caracas last Saturday and taken to New York to face trial on drug and weapons charges.
Since the arrest of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, “at least 60 arbitrary arrests” have occurred over alleged support for the operation, the NGO Blue and White Monitoring, which compiles reports of human rights violations in Nicaragua, said in a post on X.
The group said 49 people remained in detention Friday “without information about their legal status,” while nine people have been released and three others were temporarily detained.
“This new wave of repression is carried out without a judicial order and is based solely on expressions of opinion: comments on social media, private celebrations, or not repeating official propaganda,” the group said.
According to Confidencial, a Nicaraguan newspaper published outside the country, the arrests took place under a “state of alert” ordered by Murillo following Maduro’s capture – including surveillance in neighbourhoods and on social media.
La Prensa, another local newspaper, said the arrests occurred due to “posts in favor” of the US operation.
It comes a day after Donald Trump claimed that he cancelled a second wave of attacks on Venezuela because it was cooperating with the US on oil infrastructure and had released political prisoners.
The US president said he had cancelled planned military action in recognition that the authorities in Caracas had released “large numbers” of prisoners and were “seeking peace”.
Trump did not elaborate on the alleged plan for fresh strikes but said the US navy armada in the Caribbean would remain, leaving Washington with the ability to attack Venezuela at short notice.
