(Reuters) – Nicaraguan authorities have detained a former beauty queen bidding to contest the November presidential elections, her party said, as the government of President Daniel Ortega shows no sign of ending a crackdown against the opposition.
For months Ortega’s government has been detaining political adversaries, including presidential hopefuls, ahead of an election in which the former Marxist guerrilla and Cold War antagonist of Washington will be running for a fourth consecutive term.
Berenice Quezada, who was Miss Nicaragua in 2017, was detained at her home late on Tuesday night and placed under house arrest, her Citizens Alliance for Liberty (ACXL) party said.
“Quezada … is under house arrest without access to a telephone, with migratory restrictions and prohibited from running for public office,” the Citizens Alliance party tweeted.
“We demand that she be freed and Berenice Quezada’s human rights respected.”
The Citizens Alliance registered Quezada on Monday to be the running mate of Oscar Sobalvarro, a businessman and former right-wing rebel commander for the Contras,…
