Amnesty International (AI) this Friday asked the international community to redouble its efforts in the face of new abuses by the government of dictator Daniel Ortega against dissidents in Nicaragua, after 317 of them were declared stateless. “It is clear that the government of Daniel Ortega is deepening its systematic policy of repression with this new wave of repressive tactics, which is why we urgently call on the international community to redouble its efforts in the face of these new abuses,” said Erika Guevara, AI director for the Americas.
The director asked that “all available mechanisms be activated to support, protect and support human rights defenders and voices critical of the government” of Ortega, who had their nationality withdrawn. “We will not tire of demanding that the government of Daniel Ortega end repression, the Nicaraguan people do not deserve to continue living this nightmare for one second longer,” she added.
Nicaraguan authorities have stripped 317 Nicaraguans of their nationality over the past eight days, including Bishop Rolando Álvarez, sentenced to more than 26 years in prison for refusing to be deported by the Ortega government to the United States; writers Sergio Ramírez and Gioconda Belli; the auxiliary bishop of Managua, Silvio Báez; veteran human rights defender Vilma Núñez; journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro; former commander Luis Carrión and other former comrades-in-arms of Ortega are also on the list of Nicaraguans declared stateless by the country’s judicial authorities.
For Guevara, forced exile is the new repressive pattern of the Sandinista government, which has not stopped the “attack against human rights and any form of dissent or criticism” since the current crisis erupted in the Central American country in 2018. “In this new wave of human rights violations, Daniel Ortega tries to replace the unjust imprisonment of those who raise their voices and defend rights with forced exile, cruelly stripping away the rights of hundreds of Nicaraguans and reinforcing his policy of terror and repression to annihilate any dissent,” he denounced. AI director.
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