Nicaraguan lawmakers on Wednesday approved a Sandinista proposal to reform the political constitution and another for the National Police Act, which eliminates the “professional, apolitical, impartial, obedient and non-deliberative” nature of that institution, and provides jail time for deserting and disobedient officers.

The initiatives, which have been submitted for urgent approval to the National Assembly (parliament), where the Sandinistas have an absolute majority, propose reforming Article 97 of Nicaragua’s political constitution, which establishes the legal framework for the security forces.

The proposal eliminates the principle that the institution of public order is a “professional, apolitical, impartial, obedient and non-deliberative” armed body, as well as “civil in nature”.

In addition, subordinates the National Police to the President of the Republic, in this case to President Daniel Ortega.

Currently, under the leadership of Francisco Díaz, Ortega’s in-laws, the National Police is governed by the constitution “in strict respect of the political constitution, which it shall respect and obey” and that “it shall be subject to the civil authority which shall shall be exercised by the President of the Republic through the corresponding Ministry”.

“The National Police depends on the authority exercised by the President of the Republic, in his capacity as Supreme Chief and in strict observance of the political constitution to which he shall maintain respect and obedience,” the proposal states.

Punishment for deserters

The parliamentary group of the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) also proposed reforming the National Police Organisation, Functions, Career and Special Social Security System Act, which includes three new articles to punish deserting and disobedient officers.

With regard to desertion, the proposal provides that “police personnel who leave the service, which is considered desertion and causes serious damage to the security of the citizen, will be punished with imprisonment of two to three years.”

With regard to dereliction of duty, the initiative stipulates that “police personnel who, without due cause, disregard the orders of their superiors, to the detriment of the safety of the citizen, will be punished with imprisonment from six months to two years.”

The proposal comes after exiled Nicaraguan lawyer Yader Morazán revealed that Deputy Commissioner María de Jesús Guzmán Gutiérrez, head of the bloc in the Matagalpa (north) department, left the police ranks and headed for the United States.

“Welcome to the Yankee Empire, the aggressor of the robo-illusion,” wrote Morazán, an expert justice attorney who oversees Sandinista desertions in government and the state, referring to the 1979 Sandinista Revolution.

According to Morazán, a married couple consisting of Sandinista militants Juan Alberto Soza Jarquín and Gabriela Alejandra Rayo Castro traveled to the United States with the official, according to Morazán.

Rayo Castro was called as a witness in the trial of the Bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Estelí, Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, who was sentenced in February to more than 26 years in prison for crimes considered “treason against the fatherland ”, after refusing to be deported to the United States along with 222 other opponents.

“Currently, nobody in the state (Nicaragua) trusts anyone,” said Morazán, who resigned as an employee of the judiciary in the context of the socio-political crisis Nicaragua has been experiencing since April 2018.

Bishop Álvarez returned to prison

The negotiations between the Nicaraguan government and the Catholic Church in Nicaragua to release and deport Monsignor Rolando Alvarez they failed on July 5 and the bishop was sent back to the “La Modelo” prison, several international media reported. The proposal is that he accepts exile in Rome.

Monsignor Álvarez, a critic of President Daniel Ortega’s administration, was accused by the national police of “organizing violent groups”. He refused to be deported and He was declared stateless along with 222 other opponents who were declared traitors, for which he was imprisoned.

Nicaragua has been going through a political and social crisis since April 2018, exacerbated after the controversial November 7, 2021 general election, in which Ortega was re-elected to a fifth term, fourth in a row, and second alongside his wife, Rosario Murillo, as Vice President , with its main contenders in prison or exile.