135 political prisoners from Nicaragua were freed, according to a U.S. official announcement on Thursday. The inmates are now in Guatemala and will seek for entrance into the country or into other nations.
In a statement, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan claimed that their release was due to humanitarian concerns.
“No one should be imprisoned for using their fundamental rights to free speech, association, and religion practice in a peaceful manner,” Sullivan stated.
Speaking with reporters, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Eric Jacobstein stated that the negotiations did not indicate a shift in U.S. policy toward President Daniel Ortega’s administration and that the Nicaraguan government received nothing in return for the release of the prisoners.
Jacobstein stated that Nicaragua continues to “unjustly” detain people. “Though the pressure itself has been consistent, the planning and execution of this release was rapid, and we’ve worked quickly to facilitate the travel of these individuals and really ensure their safety at every step of the journey,” Jacobstein said.
He declined to answer when asked if there were any detainees that Nicaragua was prepared to free but who would not go.
“These are individuals, some of whom have been victims of torture… who’ve had an extremely difficult time, we did find them generally in very good health and spirits,” said Jacobstein, welcoming the Nicaraguans to Guatemala.
The U.S. envoy was impressed, among other things, by the “true pettiness and cruelty” of Ortega’s administration in holding individuals without cause during some of his interactions with the inmates.
When Francisco Arteaga, a freed prisoner, talked through the window of the yellow bus that was transporting him and other inmates from the air field, questions about his arrest were raised. “For disseminating the government’s actions against the Catholic church on social media,” he uttered.
Thirteen Nicaraguans who were released included lay Catholics, students, and members of a Texas-based religious organization.
While they petition for entrance into the United States, the Nicaraguans will be hosted by President Bernardo Arévalo of Guatemala.
On Thursday morning, the Nicaraguans, some of whom were waving from the windows of the busses, moved out of a Guatemalan air base in the city.
The news of the inmates’ release was not immediately confirmed by the Nicaraguan authorities.
The inmates’ release, according to human rights activist Haydeé Castillo of Nicaragua, was a “triumph for the Nicaraguan people’s resistance.” She pointed out that because the release of the convicts included their forcible departure from the nation, they weren’t truly released.
Castillo asserted that “nobody should be held prisoner for thinking differently.”
Advocates, according to her, were going over lists to find out how many of these inmates were still being held.
As a participant in the Recognition Mechanism for Political Prisoners, Ivannia Alvarez, an exiled Nicaraguan, stated that as of her most recent count, there were 151 inmates, indicating that maybe some of them are still in detention.
After serving nine months in prison, thirteen members of the religious organization Mountain Gateway, located in Texas, were officially released.
The creator of Mountain Gateway, pastor Jon Britton Hancock, stated in a statement, “This is the day we have prayed for.”
Social media activist Amaru Ruiz said that eight Indigenous forest rangers were among those let free.
“The United States reiterates its demand that the Nicaraguan government immediately stop arbitrarily detaining and arresting its citizens for doing nothing more than exercising their basic rights,” Sullivan stated.
They were referred to as political prisoners and prisoners of conscience by the US administration.
The declaration was made just two days after the penal law of Nicaragua was amended to permit the government to trial both foreign and Nicaraguan citizens in absentia.
Under the approved revisions, opponents and groups that have been driven into exile or fled President Ortega’s years-long effort to suppress critical voices may face fines, hefty jail sentences, and property seizures by the government.
More than 300 opposition leaders were deported by the government last year, and they also lost their citizenship. Much more Nicaraguans have left their country and gone into exile in order to avoid the violence that followed the large-scale protests in 2018—which Ortega, supported by foreign powers, called a failed coup.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in a statement, “These individuals safely and voluntarily arrived in Guatemala.” “We appreciate President Bernardo Arévalo’s administration’s efforts and assistance in making them feel welcome.”
“These people were wrongfully detained by Nicaraguan authorities for exercising their fundamental rights to free speech, association, peaceful assembly, and religion or belief,” Blinken stated.
