- Nicaraguan journalist Carlos Chamorro was charged with money laundering.
- The Chamorro are fierce critics of the government.
- President Daniel Ortega will face elections in November.
Nicaragua’s Attorney General’s Office on Tuesday charged the famous journalist Carlos Chamorro with money laundering, a fierce critic of the administration of President Daniel Ortega.
Reuters could not immediately contact the Chamorro people.
Read | As Ortega in Nicaragua rounds up rivals, international anger is increasing day by day
After his siblings, opposition leader and journalist Christiana Chamorro and politician Pedro Joaquin Chamorro were detained by the police, he fled to neighboring Costa Rica in June due to domestic political persecution.
Ortega is a former Marxist guerrilla who was once a Cold War opponent in the United States. He faces elections to be held in November, when he will seek a fourth consecutive term.
After Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, recently arrested several opponents, including some presidential candidates, they have aroused widespread criticism from foreign governments.
The Attorney General’s Office said in a statement that Carlos Chamorro was “accused of money laundering, money laundering of property and assets, embezzlement and retention, and abuse of management.”
Seven staff members of Cristiana Chamorro and the disbanded Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation have also been charged with new money laundering charges, which is committed to obtaining public information and transparency issues.
It also accused Pedro Joaquin Chamorro of misuse of management, misappropriation and retention of funds.
After the Nicaraguan police raided its office on August 14 and accused the paper of customs fraud and money laundering as a sharp critic of Ortega, they arrested the paper’s general manager Juan Holmann Chamorro on August 14.
La Prensa is controlled by the Chamorro family, four of whom have now been detained.
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