Mauricio Alonso Prieto once championed Sandinista socialism, but like many of his fellow countrymen, he became part of the opposition and came to "question the authoritarian direction of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) under the leadership of Daniel Ortega" and Rosario Murillo.
This week, that cost him his life.
On July 18, authorities in Nicaragua arrested — or kidnapped — Alonso, his wife, and his adult son, who is a worship leader at the evangelical Christian La Roca de Nicaragua Church. A group of "uniformed police officers and ‘volunteer’ officers wearing masks and dressed in black or blue" conducted a raid at the home of Pastor Rudy Palacios Vargas, the founder of La Roca de Nicaragua Church Association. These "officers" detained others in the home as well, including the pastor and various family members. Alonso and his family just happened to be there for a visit and were not part of the warrant.
Authorities released Alonso's wife the same day, but held him and his son "incommunicado" at the 3rd Police District. On July 28, a Nicaraguan digital news outlet reported that the two men, along with the pastor and his relatives, were now housed at "La Granja," an overcrowded Nicaraguan prison notorious for abuse and mistreatment of prisoners. The men apparently went through a "fast-tracked" virtual hearing during which they were charged with treason and conspiracy.
After weeks of no communication, Alonso's wife got a call on August 25 stating that her husband had died, though there were no other details. His family learned that the Ortega-Murillo regime would not allow them the options families traditionally want when they lose a loved one. There would be no wake, no final goodbyes, no autopsy. The family received Alonso's body in a sealed casket, and they were forced to have a funeral immediately under police observation. Despite his wife's pleas, they would not allow her imprisoned son to attend the funeral either.
The United States State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs released the following statement on Alonso's death:
Horrified by the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship's inhumanity, as authorities returned the lifeless body of Mauricio Alonso, a Nicaraguan defender of religious freedom, to his family today. The dictatorship unjustly detained and held Alonso incommunicado for a month, until his death.…
— Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs (@WHAAsstSecty) August 25, 2025
Related: The U.S. and Venezuela: What's Happening and What Comes Next?
Carlos Cárdenas Zepeda was a lawyer who lived in Managua, Nicaragua. In April 2018, in the midst of the start of major social unrest in the country, paramilitary members arrested — or kidnapped — him from his home, threatening to kill his his 10-year-old daughter if he resisted. His crime? Serving as a legal advisor to the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference (CEN).
Evidently, the regime released him, but he was arrested again earlier this month. Like Alonso, police held Cárdenas for two weeks without communicating or providing information about his whereabouts to his family. On August 29, his wife received a call saying that he was dead with no other explanation, making him the second political prisoner to die in custody this week. Again, she received his body in a sealed coffin under similar circumstances.
This isn't necessarily the norm in the country. Between 2019 and 2025, only four other political opponents have died in custody. Now, because there have been two in less than a week, Nicaraguan human rights groups and those who live in exile are worried that the Ortega-Murillo regime is ramping up its efforts to suppress the opposition. The question is why.
Like Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, the United States does not recognize Ortega and Murillo as legitimate leaders of Nicaragua. As I wrote a couple of days ago, there are rumors that Maduro and his family will flee to Nicaragua should the United States take military action against him in the weeks and months to come. As a matter of fact, I just learned that an airplane from Venezuela's presidential fleet touched down in the Central American country twice in the last couple of weeks. It's not clear if Maduro himself was on the plane, but something is happening.
By the way, next time your liberal friends complain that we're living in some sort of authoritarian state under Donald Trump, remind them that they don't know what real authoritarianism is.
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