It’s been over two weeks since Riverdale‘s Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa found out that his father, Francisco Aguirre-Sacasa, was missing. He received a phone call from his sister late last month stating that their father “had been arrested or kidnapped” according to Deadline.
The elder Aguirre-Sacasa, 76, served as the Nicaraguan ambassador to the United States for three years, starting in 1997. He later became the country’s foreign minister. Deadline reports that Francisco is believed to be in the custody of the Nicaraguan government.
“My father has had a political career and most recently has been working as a pundit and a journalist covering the state of Nicaragua and its relationships to other countries,” Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, chief creative officer of Archie Comics and the creator of several TV series including Riverdale, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and Katy Keene, told Deadline. “He’s been a vocal critic of the current regime under President Daniel Ortega who is governing with his wife as his vice president. Nicaragua has been in a bad, bad, way.”
Francisco Aguirre-Sacasa, who is not a U.S. citizen, was stopped at an airport in Costa Rica with his wife where they were set to board a plane to Washington D.C. for a scheduled surgery for him. Aguirre-Sacasa’s passport was taken, and he was told he was “under investigation for treason and for being an enemy of the state.” They were then told to go back home.
Before they returned, the couple was stopped by National Police and Francisco was detained. His home was also searched, and documents and computers were taken by the police. His son has received no information about the whereabouts of his father since then. He thinks he is being held at the prison known as El Chipote.
“We believe he is being kept as a political prisoner,” Roberto said. “The current administration has been arresting anyone who attempted to run against Ortega or who have been speaking out against him and those who are fighting for a free democratic election.”
Roberto adds that by speaking up, they’re doing what his father has done his entire life and bringing attention to the political injustices in Nicaragua. This includes the arrests of at least 30 activists and political opponents leading up to Nicaragua’s election in November. And just last year, the U.S. Department of State reported that Nicaragua’s authoritarian political system was responsible for arbitrary killings, forced disappearances, torture and restrictions of free expression and religious freedom, among other serious issues.
“We hope that he will not suffer because we’re speaking out,” Roberto followed up by saying. “We ask that they free him and the other prisoners. Our father is also a grandfather, a brother, and a son. We want him to get home safely.”