SIGN THIS URGENT ACTION ONLINE
To the international community
To the government of Nicaragua
To the governments of Argentina, Costa Rica, Spain, and Mexico
On June 25, 2016, six members of the Mesoamerican Caravan were arbitrarily harassed and detained by the National Police of Nicaragua, while they were in the municipality of Nueva Guinea giving a workshop on firewood-saving stoves to residents of the Fonseca neighborhood.
The detained include: Ana Laura Rodríguez, 27 years old, from Argentina;
Byron Francisco Reyes Ortiz (31) of Costa Rica; Daniel Espinosa Jiménez
(25) of dual Mexican and Spanish citizenship; and Emmanuel de la Luz
Ruiz, Eugenio Pacelli Chávez Macedo, and Salvador Tenorio Pérez, 25
years old and of Mexican nationality.
On June 26 and 27, allies reported to the offices of the National Police
in Managua, Nicaragua, accompanied by lawyers claiming the right to
defense. However, authorities refused to reveal the whereabouts and
conditions of the detained members of the caravan, even after 48 hours
of detention. Their only response was to fill the offices with more
police.
The detention occurred at 3:00 p.m., after a minor accident involving
workshop participant Alexander Marenco. At around 11:00 a.m. Marenco was
cleaning a metal barrel for use in the construction of a stove, when
gasoline residue in the container resulted in a small flare-up. Marenco
reports being in good condition and he has reiterated to news outlets
and in statements on social media that the incident was minor and caused
by his own actions.
However, during the course of the day the National Police of Nicaragua
arrived in Fonseca and detained the members of the caravan. We are very
concerned by the hasty declarations made by President Daniel Ortega and
published in the Official Press of Honduras (13/2016) seeking to link
the young environmentalists and the peasant movement with the supposed
“manipulation of explosive substances and the exposure of persons to
danger” — a patently false claim.
We hold the Government of Nicaragua responsible for the well-being of
the members of the Caravan, who still have not received any formal
charges and have been moved to detention facilities in the capital city
of Managua, according to police. At around 3:00 a.m. on June 26, police
took possession of the bus and other equipment belonging to the
Mesoamerican Caravan, which is a collaborative effort on the part of
international collectives. The project started in Mexico in May of 2015
and has visited communities in Central America, promoting
community-based activism through exchanges on alternative technologies
that seek to protect the environment.
We demand:
- The immediate release of all of the detained activists
- The immediate return of their possessions, including their vehicle and
equipment - The realization of an investigation into the incident, so as bring to
light that the caravan members were not involved in any illegal
activity - An end to the intimidation and criminalization of social movements
Please sign the petition here: http://bit.ly/296geEn
