Sandinista commander Bayardo Arce arrested amid corruption probe and political shake-up in Nicaragua.
Nicaraguan authorities have arrested Bayardo Arce, a senior Sandinista determine and longtime financial adviser to President Daniel Ortega, amid an escalating inside purge inside the nation’s ruling elite.
In response to Nicaraguan media, Arce, 76, was detained early Thursday morning following a raid by dozens of law enforcement officials on his house in Managua. He had been beneath home arrest since Sunday, stories mentioned.
The Lawyer Common’s Workplace, managed by the Ortega authorities, introduced Wednesday it had launched a corruption probe in opposition to Arce, accusing him of “unlawful transactions and negotiations” associated to properties and companies allegedly tied to state pursuits. Prosecutors declare Arce refused to cooperate or current documentation when questioned.
His aide, Ricardo Bonilla, was arrested a day earlier for allegedly refusing to “render accounts”, officers added.
The Nicaraguan information outlet Confidencial reported that Arce’s detention is a part of a broader purge being directed by Vice President Rosario Murillo, Ortega’s spouse and co-ruler, with the president’s full help. Sources near the exiled opposition consider Murillo is consolidating energy in preparation for succession, as Ortega’s well being visibly deteriorates.
In current public appearances, Ortega, now 79, has appeared frail and unsteady. He’s reported to undergo from lupus and kidney failure, elevating hypothesis about who could finally change him.
Arce is the third distinguished Sandinista veteran to be positioned beneath home arrest this yr. Henry Ruiz, one other historic commander, was confined in March. Humberto Ortega, the president’s brother and a former military chief, was beneath related restrictions earlier than his dying in September 2024.
Arce and Daniel Ortega have been shut comrades throughout the 1979 Sandinista revolution that toppled United States-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza. After a long time out and in of energy, Ortega returned to the presidency in 2007 and has remained in workplace by way of successive elections that many have criticised as undemocratic.
The arrests have despatched a chilling message throughout Nicaragua’s political panorama, notably amongst veteran revolutionaries who as soon as stood alongside Ortega and are actually going through marginalisation or detention.
