The shockwaves of the US military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro are being felt 2,000 kilometers away in Nicaragua. The regime of Daniel Ortega, terrified by the fall of its closest ideological ally, has launched a paranoid crackdown, arresting at least 60 citizens for the crime of "celebrating" the news.

Human rights watchdog Blue and White Monitoring reports that the arrests began hours after news broke of Maduro’s extraction to New York. The detainees, ordinary citizens, were picked up from their homes and the streets for social media posts, private toasts, or simply discussing the event in public.

The Crime of Happiness

"They are criminalizing joy," said a Nicaraguan exile in Costa Rica. "Ortega sees Maduro in a jumpsuit and sees his own future." The regime has declared a de facto "State of Alert," deploying police to patrol neighborhoods and monitor internet traffic for any signs of support for the US action.

• The Targets: Among those arrested are university students, a 60-year-old shopkeeper who reportedly cheered when he saw the news on TV, and three journalists who shared the US Department of Justice indictment online. They are being held in the notorious El Chipote prison, likely to be charged with "treason" or "inciting foreign intervention."
• The Ortega-Murillo Anxiety: Vice President Rosario Murillo (Ortega's wife) took to state media to denounce the US operation as "imperialist terrorism." Analysts believe the couple fears that with Maduro gone, they are next on Washington's list. Nicaragua relies heavily on Venezuelan oil subsidies, which have now evaporated overnight.
• Regional Domino Effect: The fall of Maduro has left the "Troika of Tyranny" (Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua) exposed. With Havana facing its own economic collapse and Caracas under US administration, Managua is isolated. The crackdown is a desperate attempt to seal the pressure cooker before it explodes.

A Warning to Dissenters

The message from the Sandinista leadership is brutal but clear: What happened in Caracas will not be allowed to inspire hope in Managua. But as the prisons fill up with people whose only crime was a Facebook like, the regime may be fueling the very uprising it seeks to prevent.