Julio Quintana Carvajal

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted him precautionary measures on February 18, 2025.

On November 26, 2024, in the morning hours, the police carried out an operation at the house of Julio Antonio Quintana Carvajal, in the city of León, and without an arrest warrant, they proceeded to arrest the 66-year-old lawyer and notary public. They stripped him of his telephone and put him in a van, handcuffed. Since his arrest, the authorities have not provided any official information on his whereabouts, nor has he had any contact with his family or relatives, so his current situation is unknown.

Julio joined the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) underground in the 1970’s and was part of the university student front. He was captured by the then Somoza dictatorship and subjected to torture that resulted in a rib fracture, burns and a brain injury that caused him to lose sensibility in half of his body. In the 80’s he was political secretary of the FSLN in Achuapa, a municipality in the department of Leon, and later, head of propaganda for the FSLN elections in Leon.

After 2006, he joined the political movement Unión Democrática Renovadora (UNAMOS), formerly Movimiento Renovador Sandinista (MRS). In 2018, amid government repression of citizen demonstrations, his house in León was vandalized and stoned. Then, Sandinista sympathizers wanted to enter by force calling him “traitor ‘and “vendepatria.”

In 2019, his house was spray-painted with the word “plomo” (lead). Since then, the police have constantly harassed him, taking photos of his home every 15 days. It is known that the police agents asked him to make a video asking for forgiveness from Rosario Murillo and Daniel Ortega, and to return to the ranks of the Sandinista Front, and thus be pardoned, to which he refused.

People close to him have searched for him in police stations and in the Judicial Assistance Directorate without receiving any information about his whereabouts and in what condition he is in. Julio Quintana has not committed any crime.

His life is in danger, as he suffers from heart problems: arrhythmia, muscle numbness, vision problems and hypertension. Julio needs to take Losartan daily to regulate his blood pressure. Because of this, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted him precautionary measures on February 18, 2025, demanding that the State adopt the necessary measures to determine the situation and whereabouts to protect his life and personal integrity.

Where is Julio Quintana?

We demand to the Ortega-Murillo regime: Free Nicas Now!