Olesia Muñóz

Olesia Muñóz: the soprano imprisoned twice for wanting a free homeland

Olesia Muñóz, 52, joined social protests in Nicaragua for the first time in 2018, when the news broke of another murder: Alvaro Conrado, a 15-year-old who gave protesters water bottles near the National Engineering University.

She encouraged people to join the manifestation, not only from her hometown, Niquinohomo, but in the entire Masaya. This being the reason for the Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo regime sending the police to violently raid her household in July 2018, when the infamous operation cleanup began.

That day, they shot at her house, they stole all her musical equipment, but were unable to capture her until July 31st. In Masaya, according to what she denounced herself, the police officers pulled out her toenails, beat her so she would confess crimes she had not committed, and they threatened her to throw her into the volcano if she did not speak up.

In 2019, after the approval of the controversial Amnesty Law that the regime used to make its crimes go unpunished, claiming it would allow the release of opponents still in prison for political reasons, Olesia and her sister who were detained, were released, under the threat given in the law that if they recidivated, they would lose “the benefit.”

In a new wave of detentions, on April 6th, 2023, she was recaptured by the police alongside 30 other people, who were all imprisoned during the celebrations of Holy Week in Nicaragua. They kept her in the Third District of Managua for two months, later on she was transported to the women’s prison La Esperanza.

In June 2023, during one of the few visits the regime allowed her family, they reported she was “unrecognizable.” Her health state had deteriorated, and they saw her “pale, skinny, aged, and disoriented,” adding on to her diabetes.

On August 23rd Judge Ulisa Yahoska Tapia Silva, after a trial in which judicial guarantees were absolutely violated, it sentenced Olesia and fellow political prisoner Anielka García to five years in prison for conspiracy and three for spreading false news, disqualification from running for public office and a 500-day fine.

The trail was done in secret, as it happens frequently in the cases of people arbitrarily detained.

Olesia Muñoz did not commit any crime, protest for a free homeland should not be punished with imprisonment.

Freedom Olesia Muñoz!

We demand the Ortega-Murillo: Free Nicas Now!