Once again, the locks of the prisons of the Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo regime were opened at dawn to release political prisoners. This time, at dawn on September 5, 135 people opposed to the Sandinista Administration – among them, evangelical religious, lay Catholics, students and opponents – were taken from their cells and taken to the international airport in Managua, where a plane chartered by the Government of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris was ready to take them to Guatemala to find not only freedom, but the beginning of an exile.
Similar to what happened on February 9, 2023 with 222 released political prisoners – at that time the main opposition leaders and former presidential candidates – the operation was handled in total secrecy and confidentiality. The novelty with this new release is that the 135 people were not transferred to the United States, but to Guatemala, whose government, headed by President Bernardo Arévalo, received them at the La Aurora international airport.
A source close to the progressive Arévalo administration consulted by EL PAÍS assured that the entire operation “was a well-planned thing by the United States Embassy in Managua.” The Arévalo administration offered its approval and part of the logistics to receive the released Nicaraguan prisoners. In the afternoon, hours after the short flight from Managua landed in Guatemala City, the governments of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and that of Arévalo gave a joint press conference in which they revealed few details of the operation.
According to Eric Jacobstein, deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, the political prisoners “received medical attention on the plane and were found to be well.” “We found them, in general, in very good health and spirit. They came off the plane saying, ‘God bless America, God bless Guatemala.’ Extremely grateful,” the White House official described.
Jacobstein said briefly that the White House chose Guatemala as the destination for the 135 political prisoners because the Arévalo government is committed to democracy and maintains “continuous leadership in the region.” Before the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere gave this press conference, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated that the United States Congress was continuing efforts to free 13 members of the Puerta de la Montaña organization, an evangelical church based in Texas, whose pastors and members were accused by the Ortega-Murillo regime of money laundering.
However, the presidential couple not only agreed to release these 13 religious figures, but, “in a unilateral decision,” they added another 122 political prisoners to the list. Something similar happened with the 222 political prisoners in February 2023: according to Ortega himself, it was his “co-president,” that is, his wife, who informed the then US ambassador in Managua, Kevin Sullivan, that she would release all political prisoners.
Ortega and Murillo, in total silence
As of September 5, the Mechanism for Political Prisoners in Nicaragua had counted 151 people detained for political reasons and religious persecution. Of these, 126 are men and 25 are women. Of the total number, 25 were elderly.
There was no political negotiation between Managua and Washington during the 2023 release, nor during the current one, the White House has insisted. Until the publication of this article, the Sandinista apparatus has maintained total silence on the exile. Amid this silence, the presidential couple has not revealed the list of those released, which has generated anxiety among the relatives since, according to the Mechanism’s data, there are still 16 detainees in the country.
For example, it is unknown whether indigenous deputy Brooklyn Rivera was exiled to Guatemala, or also his number two in the Yatama regional party, legislator Nancy Henríquez. In Rivera’s case, she was in forced disappearance for several months since her arrest. A Repressive pattern identified in arrests by the Legal Defense Unit (UDJ)Both their families and human rights organizations repeatedly requested “proof of life” for several detainees. Other prisoners of conscience in a condition of “forced disappearance due to concealment of whereabouts,” such as the social communicator Fabiola Tercero, were identified in the photographs distributed by the Presidency of Guatemala.
Despite requests from human rights organizations for the official list of the names of the 135 exiled political prisoners, Guatemala and the United States said that “it will not be revealed for security reasons.” Other people have been identified because, from Guatemala City, they managed to communicate with their families and calm their anxiety.
Undersecretary Jacobstein said at the press conference that the release of the political prisoners does not change U.S. policy toward the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship. “I want to emphasize that this does not indicate a change in our policy toward this repressive regime.” […]. We believe that only Ortega and Murillo can control the freedom of these individuals. That is why we urge them to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Nicaragua.”
Uncertainty about nationality
Given the regime’s silence, another question that has arisen is whether the 135 people expelled to Guatemala will be stripped of their Nicaraguan nationality, as happened with the 222 political prisoners while they were flying on February 9, 2023. Jacobstein said he “does not know” whether the Ortega apparatus will make a similar decision. But he warned that “it would be a mistake” if it does. Instead, he stressed that the United States keeps the doors open to negotiations for the release of more political prisoners, arguing that “they are people who were imprisoned only for asserting their civil rights.”
Political analysts consulted by EL PAÍS, although they do not rule it out, consi
der it unlikely that the presidential couple will strip these 135 people of their nationality. The stripping of nationality is linked to the political crime of “treason.” It is a measure that, as its main punishment, involves the confiscation of all the assets of those declared “guilty.”
Before the 135 political prisoners were released from prison and sent to Guatemala, the Sandinista government approved a reform to the Penal Code last week that establishes that Nicaraguans and foreigners who are outside the country can be prosecuted and sentences ranging from life imprisonment to confiscation of property can be imposed on those who commit crimes such as money laundering, terrorism and its financing, cybercrimes and any offense against the public administration. That is, crimes that, de facto, the presidential couple has used against their critics since 2018, when massive social protests against them broke out.
“I do not rule out the possibility that they will be stripped of their nationality, like the 222, but taking away their nationality has entailed a great political cost for the regime at an international level. And to be frank, the main punishment for declaring you a traitor to the country and telling you that you are no longer Nicaraguan is that they confiscate all your assets. Something that they can now do perfectly well with the reform of the Penal Code. With less fuss than saying that they have made more opponents stateless again,” said a political analyst who asked to remain anonymous.
The 135 Nicaraguans have been welcomed by the Government of President Arévalo. They have a 90-day permit to legally remain in that country, while they decide what immigration procedures they wish to carry out. Jacobstein has assured that his Government is willing to provide visas to travel to the United States so that they can begin the process of requesting asylum in that country.
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