The historic Sandinista commander Hugo Torres, imprisoned by the Ortega regime, dies in a Nicaraguan prison

Hugo Torres, in an image the days before his arrest in June 2021. RR.SS UNITE

The political prisoner and historical former Sandinista guerrilla, retired General Hugo Torres, died this Saturday in jail, imprisoned as he was by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.

Sources close to the family confirmed the death, although more details are unknown, since the critical commander of the current government was being held in the El Chipote prison, which human rights organizations consider a torture center.

Torres, 73, is the first political prisoner to die in the hands of the National Police, of the 47 who were arrested last year prior to the elections.

He died without being brought to trial.

The retired general was one of the more than 20 elderly political prisoners, several of them valetudinarians, who are in El Chipote subjected to torture.

For a couple of months, human rights organizations began a campaign to find out the whereabouts of the retired general who had health problems in prison.

He was a key figure in Sandinismo.

In 1974, the former guerrilla, known as Comandante Uno, risked his life in an operation to free a group of political prisoners from the Somoza dictatorship, including Daniel Ortega himself.

He also directed with Dora María Téllez,

After learning of his death, the video that Torres recorded before being arrested by the Ortega police eight months ago began to recirculate in which he says: “46 years ago I risked my life to get Daniel Ortega and other fellow political prisoners out of jail. (...) but that's how life turns, and those who someday embraced principles today have betrayed them”.

The message of retired general Hugo Torres, before he was captured and his house raided… pic.twitter.com/PdsBQHWjp3

– Wilfredo Miranda Aburto (@PiruloAr) June 13, 2021

Since the beginning of this year, the Renovating Democratic Union movement (Unamos) began a campaign to find out about the health of Torres, who was the vice president of this organization.

Former guerrilla fighter Mónica Baltodano wrote in an opinion article in

that Torres had been taken out of his cell on December 17, 2021 because he had quickly fallen ill and his companions had helped him several times “due to the degree of inflammation in his legs, he could hardly move by itself.

He was treated by prison doctors, but they were unable to alleviate his situation.

That day, Hugo suffered a long faint.

He was taken from his cell to an unknown destination, ”Baltodano wrote.

Although it was later learned that he was transferred to a hospital in Managua to be treated, Torres's whereabouts were treated with total secrecy, until the news of his death.

“He had cancer, but everything is very strange because he entered El Chipote super healthy and the initial news after his arrest was that he was healthy, but suddenly he decompensated.

So now the question remains as to whether he was negligent in prison, ”said a source close to the Torres family.

The children of the guerrilla commander have treated their father's case with caution, but this Saturday afternoon they are expected to issue a statement in this regard.

The alarms about Torres's health jumped after the fourth visit that the regime allowed to relatives of political prisoners, between December 30 and January 2, when the relatives could not see him because he was not in his cell, according to reports. other political prisoners.

Torres was born in 1948, in El Espino, Madriz, in the north of Nicaragua.

When he was five years old, his family moved to León, where he lived and studied.

He lived in the El Calvario neighborhood, near where Rigoberto López Pérez lived, whom he knew before he executed Somoza García in 1956, according to Mónica Baltodano.

His mother was Isabel Jiménez and his father, Cipriano Torres, second lieutenant of the National Guard (GN).

With the victory of the Sandinistas, Torres became General of the Army, from which he retired until 1998. However, in the National Police statement on his capture, he was branded as a "citizen", denying his military position.

"To the most sensible followers of the Sandinista Front, my message is to open your eyes that are taking you to the cliff," said Torres before his capture.

The stupor has spread this Saturday in Nicaragua, especially in the relatives of political prisoners.

"It's a big blow for us," said one of them.

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