Nicaragua: Release political prisoners and human rights defenders

ID on report of Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua

Presented by: Eugenia S. Valle Olivares

28 February 2025

My name is Eugenia Valle Olivares, wife of Victor Boitano Colman (Nicaraguan-Italian citizen), who was arrested in our home on April 23, 2024, by armed agents and police officers. The police did not have a warrant. Since that day when they violently broke into our home, we do not know their whereabouts.

For six months, I searched for my husband in various detention centres, but no authority provided us with any information about his location or state of health.

Faced with threats and persecution from state agents as a result of my search for my husband, I had to leave the country. I have been in exile ever since.

Despite the fear and despair that those of us who have disappeared or detained family members experience, today I come before this Human Rights Council to raise my voice on behalf of the 47 families and political prisoners who have been and continue to be tortured in Nicaraguan prisons.

We ask you to continue strengthening all the necessary mechanisms, such as the Group of Experts, so we can one day return to Nicaragua and live without fear.

We demand that my husband Victor Boitano, Angélica Chavarria, and Brooklin Rivera be presented to us alive.

We demand compliance with the provisional and precautionary measures granted by the IACHR.

Thank you.