Chamorro meets Nicaragua prosecutors after raids

STORY: Nicaragua Police Raid - Chamorro meets Nicaragua prosecutors after raids

LENGTH: 02:31

FIRST RUN: 2331

RESTRICTIONS:

TYPE: Spanish/Natsound

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

STORY NUMBER: 4327186

DATELINE: 21 May 2021 - Managua

SHOTLIST:

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Managua - 21 May 2021

1. Cristiana Chamorro arriving at the prosecutor's office

2. Supporters chanting "Freedom, viva Nicaragua!"

3. Cristiana Chamorro entering prosecutor's office

4. Various Cristiana Chamorro walking after exiting prosecutor's office

5. Cristiana Chamorro speaking with reporters

6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Cristiana Chamorro, presidential pre-candidate:

"The outrages that happened in these past weeks, both to "Confidencial" (media outlet), and to the parties legally constituted and to the candidates, indicate that this is an assault by the dictatorship against the people of Nicaragua. It is not only against us, but against each one of you, against the freedom of expression, against our human rights, against public liberties."

7. Various activist Violeta Delgado Sarmiento listening to Cristiana Chamorro

8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Violeta Delgado Sarmiento, Gender Rights Activist:

"We will vote to get Ortega out, as we did in 1990 through civic means, through democratic means, in spite of everything he does, using the institutional system, with his millions, his shock forces, his police, and paramilitary forces."

9. Various riot policemen looking on

10. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Cristiana Chamorro, presidential pre-candidate:

"Daniel Ortega is afraid of the people of Nicaragua. This is a man who is terrified to death because we, united, are going to defeat him in the next elections."

11. Various of clothing stand owner Wilber Espinosa arranging his stand

12. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Wilber Espinosa, Clothing Stand Owner:

"I have never known her to be with the poor as the President, the Comandante (President Daniel Ortega), has been. The Comandante has been there at all times, and these types of people have never been there, nor will they be when they supposedly become President."

13. Various of pro-government t-shirts at clothing stand

14. Various of avenue with Hugo Chavez billboard

STORYLINE:

Nicaraguan journalist Cristiana Chamorro, daughter of a former president and potential challenger to President Daniel Ortega, met with authorities Friday regarding allegations of money laundering.

The previous day, national police raided the offices of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation for Reconciliation and Democracy, the nongovernmental organization named after her mother and led by Chamorro until recently and the offices of the independent news outlet run by her brother Carlos Fernando Chamorro.

Cristiana Chamorro met with officials at the Interior Ministry Thursday and Friday entered the public prosecutor's offices. Her lawyer was not allowed to accompany her.

"The outrages that happened in these past weeks (...) indicate that this is an assault by the dictatorship against the people of Nicaragua," she said, surrounded by journalists.

Several political opposition leaders said Friday police kept them from leaving their homes to go support Chamorro.

The Nicaraguan government announced Thursday that Chamorro was under investigation for alleged financial irregularities and money laundering related to the foundation.

Cristiana Chamorro has not ruled out the possibility of running for President in the November elections.

In January, she stepped down from her role at the foundation. A month later, it closed its operations in Nicaragua after passage of a "foreign agents" law that aimed to track foreign funding of organizations operating in the country.

She said the new accusations are Ortega's attempt to keep her out of the race for the November 7 elections.

52-year-old Wilber Espinosa and his wife have been selling clothes at their stand at a bus stop for the past 19 years.

Their shop is filled now with pro-government t-shirts and hats in anticipation to November's elections.

"I have never known her to be with the poor as the President, the Comandante, has been," he said when asked about Chamorro.

Ortega is seeking his fourth consecutive presidential term in November.

Nicaragua's Supreme Electoral Council and congress have been narrowing the space for manoeuvre for the country's opposition.

On Tuesday, the council cancelled the legal status of the Democratic Restoration Party, which was expected to potentially be a vehicle for an opposition coalition bid against Ortega.

Violeta Barrios de Chamorro beat Ortega to win the presidency in 1990 and served until 1997. Her husband Pedro Joaquin Chamorro ran La Prensa, his family newspaper, and was jailed and forced into exile multiple times before his assassination in 1978. Cristiana Chamorro is the vice president of La Prensa.

His killing galvanized opposition forces against dictator Anastasio Somoza and propelled the Sandinista revolution led by Ortega that resulted in his ouster.

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