Denver Newsroom, Aug 25, 2022 / 06:00 am
El Nuevo Chipote, or simply El Chipote, opened in February 2019 to replace the old prison of the same name and was soon known as a torture prison, where the Nicaraguan dictatorship is now holding several Catholic priests who were abducted by the police and brought there.
The priests currently in this prison are Father Oscar Benavidez of the Diocese of Siuna; and Father Ramiro Tijerino, Father José Luis Diaz, Father Sadiel Eugarrios, and Father Raúl González, all from the Diocese of Matagalpa. Also taken there were seminarians Darvin Leyva and Melquín Sequeira and cameraman Sergio Cárdenas.
With the exception of Benavidez, all the others were arrested in the early hours of Aug. 19 at the Matagalpa chancery, the same time the police working for the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega also abducted Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who is now under house arrest in Managua, the capital.
According to Nicaragua Investiga online news, the dictatorship of Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, probably spent about 183 million córdobas on the construction of the new prison — approximately $5 million.