Exiled Nicaraguan journalist Berta Valle ‘terrified’ by Russian troops in Central America

ꦿAn exiled Nicaraguan journalist says she fears a growing presence of Russsian troops in her homelaꦺnd as the country grows increasingly isolated on the world stage.

Berta Valle — wife of imprisoned Nicaraguan opposition leader and presidential candidate Felix Maradiaga — told The Post on Monday that Nicaraguans are “terrified” of dictator Daniel Ortega’s decision to welcome Russian soldiers to the Central American country after seeing what they’ve done in Ukraine.

“Ortega invited the Russian military into Nicaragua. Publicly, he says Russia is supporting the military training of the Nicaraguan military. But we are terrified, because our country is hosting an army that commits atrocities against civilians in Ukraine,” Valle said.

Ortega issued🐭 a decree in June allowing foreign soldiers to operate🌞 inside Nicaraguan borders for various training, emergency response and law enforcement purposes.

The law comes as Ortega’s regime distances itself from the West and draws closer to the Kremlin — expelling the European Union’s ambassador over the weekend while criminally prosecuting the relatives of his political opponents.

One of the few world leaders to back Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ortega also recently , allowing the Kremlin mouthpiece to broadcast in Nicaragua.

Valle and others have expressed the fear that Russian boots on the ground in Nicaragua will help the dictatorship — run by Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo — to further develop its collective repression techniques.

Western analysts also worry Russia will use Nicaragua as a base for 🙈further espionage and intelligence-gathering operations.

“It’s very frustrating,” Valle said of the situation in Nicaragua. “The Ortega family has taken over all aspects of civil society. People are condemned and sentenced in secret hearings for violating fake laws.” 

Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla, first came to power in 1979 on a strong anti-American pl🐷atform an♍d returned to power in 2007. 

Protests against his regime broke out🐓 in 2018 after elderly Nicaraguans were beaten in the streets for speaking out against social security changes, Valle told The Post.

Soon “indignant” Nicaraguans from different sectors, including anti-corruption activists, joined the protest, Valle said — sparking a government crackdown that extended to “students, journalists and even the Catholic Church.”

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“We wanted legitimate elections and the opportunity for a peaceful transition to democracy but that didn’t happen,” Valle said. 

Ortega has been a longtime ally of Ru💖ssia since the Soviet era.

Valle was in New York on Monday to speak at the Oslo Freedom Forum, where she urged the international community to press for the release of more than 200 political prisoners –including her husband and six other presidential candidates.

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The prisoners, she claimed, are subject to physic🎐al and psychological torture. Valle𝓀 said her husband had lost 60 pounds since he was imprisoned last year, and she fears for his life.

“He isn’t allowed to read or write — they don’t even have access to a Bible,” she said, adding her husband hadn’t had any outside contact for nearly 40 days.

 “We don’t know when we’ll hear from him again,” she said. 

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Political prisoners in Nicaragua “aren’t allowed to speak to each other or receive medical treatment,” she added. “They have no light and are under daily interrogations even after they have been sentenced.

“Some women have been in solitary confinement for more than a year and can’t even speak to their children. We fear for their lives,” she said.

The US and European Union have called for the release of the political prisoners, condemned Ortega’s latest election, and imposed sanctions on his family and inner circle. 

But Ortega has reportedly stepped up his terror campaign against political opposition, jailing the families of those who seek to unseat him in what the Nicaragua Center for Hu🍎man Rights has c🎶alled “a new pattern of extortion kidnapping.”

Valle, meanwhile, said she’s been condemned as a “traitor” by the Nicaraguan government. She lives in the US with her 8-year-old daughter, her parents and mother-in-law.

Valle said she recently talked with the wives of other Latin American political prisoners. In the midst of all the darkness, Valle said, there is hope “that there is a future and that it is better.”

She adds: “We must work together to save the lives of political prisoners. Dictators will never leave power. But sooner or later they will be overthrown.”

Until then, she says, there is struggle — and flight. More than 400,000 Nicaraguans have fled since 2018. 

Nevertheless, she says: “I put my faith in the future.”

With wires