By Rómulo González | 2024-10-29

A key Nicaraguan police official's background dovetails with the regime's alignment with the Russian and Cuban dictatorships.

Under President Daniel Ortega's regime, true power lies within the operational elements of the security apparatus.

National Police officer Zhukov Serrano, 58, is pivotal in orchestrating intelligence exchanges among Russia, Cuba and Nicaragua.

Serrano, deputy director general of the National Police and chief of the Police Intelligence Directorate, holds the rank of commissioner general.

While some sources claim he hails from Ocotal, Nicaragua, his closest colleagues within the police assert that he was actually born in Havana in the late 1960s, when his Nicaraguan parents were living in Cuba.

As a result, subordinates and colleagues call him "the Cuban."

Some of them spoke under anonymity for security reasons for this article.

In Nicaragua, exposing secrets like these often leads to prolonged torture, accusations of being CIA spies and eventually death—punishments that can even extend to one's family.

A Goyo acolyte

"He comes from Goyo's ranks," said one source, referring to Lenin Gregorio Cerna, the former chief of the General Directorate of State Security (DGSE).

"From a young age, [Serrano] was part of these structures, working alongside Goyo under the mentorship of Cuban Col. Renán Montero," the source said.

Cerna led the secret police and counterintelligence operations in the 1980s to suppress internal dissent.

Montero is regarded as the father of intelligence and counterintelligence for the Sandinista regime in the 1980s, particularly shaping the DGSE and the Fifth Directorate, an operational unit that collected intelligence abroad.

This is why, according to another source, Ortega's regime mirrors the "Cuban model" of repression.

Serrano was recruited early on by the State Security Directorate of Fidel Castro's Ministry of the Interior, those who call Serrano "the Cuban" say.

Though little is known about his early years, such sources assert he was born in Cuba and spent at least part of his childhood there.

He later joined the DGSE, though sources do not specify when he arrived in Nicaragua to join the secret police. However, they do confirm that Montero "brought him in."

Cuban agents who knew the young Serrano recruited him early because they believed that his parents had connections to the revolutionary struggle in Nicaragua, say Entorno's sources.

"As a well-trained student of Cuban State Security, he receives directives from Havana and enjoys its full confidence," according to a high-ranking officer who spoke with Entorno.

Serrano's rapid rise in the National Police is attributed to "the trust placed in him by Daniel Ortega and [Vice President] Rosario Murillo, as well as his connections with Goyo's associates. Ortega has strong trust in Cerna and has promoted him based on these recommendations," said the officer.

Cubans in Nicaragua

Cuban military and intelligence advisers have been present in Nicaragua since the early 1980s, helping steer the political strategies of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), of which Ortega is the general secretary.

In 1990, following the historic electoral defeat of the FSLN by Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, diplomatic relations with Cuba dwindled.

Key Cuban intelligence advisers, including Montero, departed Nicaragua, leading to a more covert form of cooperation with the National Police command.

"This shift occurred because many officers from the DGSE and the former Ministry of the Interior joined the National Police to avoid the anticipated purge they believed would begin then," explained a security analyst who requested anonymity for security reasons, as his family remains in Nicaragua.

"The National Police have consistently received guidance from Havana. Since Ortega's return to power in 2007, the role and nature of the National Police have gradually evolved, effectively transforming it into the new State Security apparatus," the observer said.

Since 2018, "Cuban advisers have significantly increased their presence and roles within the police structure. Well-documented reports reveal that Cubans disguised as police officers were apprehended [by protesters] during clashes with protesters in that year," he added.

In June 2019, the independent media outlet 14ymedio reported that approximately 200 Cuban advisers had arrived in Nicaragua on Conviasa flights from Havana.

These advisers, all members of Cuba's State Security Directorate, were brought in to train personnel in the police, immigration and penal systems.

The Cubans arrived in Managua with diplomatic passports, the report said, citing high-level sources within the Ortega regime.

These Cuban strategists have taught their Nicaraguan counterparts how to use violent repression to maintain the Ortega dictatorship, additional media reports say.

Russia relations

Another detail about Serrano is his close ties to Russia.

During a public event in December 2022, Ortega revealed that Serrano's father was an admirer of Marshal Georgy Zhukov, a standout Red Army commander in World War II.

That admiration is reflected in Serrano's first name.

Further praising Serrano, Ortega noted that he had completed specialized studies in Russia and is fluent in Russian.

According to high-ranking officers interviewed for this report, much of Serrano's work was conducted in Department H of the National Police.

This department, part of the Police Intelligence Directorate, handles covert operations.

"Regardless of whether he was trained by Cuba or Russia, what is clear is that Commissioner Gen. Serrano is a covertly trained agent with a history of involvement in secret operations," said one of the sources.

"Experience has given Ortega and the officers in Havana and Moscow the confidence to lead efforts in countering threats against the Ortega-Murillo family in Nicaragua," he concluded.