Nicaragua: opposition party denounces the assassination of one of its leaders

The opposition party Ciudadanos por la Libertad (CxL) on Thursday denounced the kidnapping and the assassination by bullet of one of its leaders, José Lopez, in the northeast of Nicaragua.

" Three armed men came to kidnap the leader of Ciudadanos por la Libertad José Lopez, 51, to assassinate him afterwards, " the party said in a statement on Monday evening in the municipality of Mulukuku, 250 kilometers northeast of Managua.

Read also: At the gates of Nicaragua, with the survivors of El Chipote

The CxL party is part of Nicaraguan groups planning to meet in a large opposition coalition, which will be launched next Tuesday, for the general elections of 2021.

The Sandinista party in power does not exclude to present the current president, Daniel Ortega, to his succession, for a fourth consecutive mandate.

The head of state is accused by opponents of serious human rights violations. The crackdown on anti-government protests in 2018 left at least 328 people dead and 88,000 exiled, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).