Eduardo González
The Government has granted the Spanish nationality by letter of nature to a second group of fourteen Nicaraguan opponents expelled and stripped of their nationality by the regime of Daniel Ortega, bringing to almost thirty the number of beneficiaries of this measure so far this month.
The fourteen Nicaraguans, whose nationality was approved on Tuesday by the Council of Ministers at the proposal of the Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop, “in view of the exceptional circumstances”, and whose names were published yesterday in the Official State Gazette (BOE), are Desirée Elizondo Cabrera (wife of journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, nationalized two weeks ago for the same reasons), Dora María Téllez Argüello, Dulce María Porras Aguilar (exiled in Costa Rica), Dora María Téllez Argüello, Dulce María Porras Aguilar (exiled in Costa Rica), former congresswoman Edipcia Juliana Dubón Castro, exiled former congressman Eliseo Fabio Núñez Morales, Elvira Auxiliadora Cuadra Lira, Gerardo José Baltodano Cantarero, lawyer Guillermo Gonzalo Carrión Maradiaga, Harry Bayardo Chávez Cerda, Haydee Isabel Castillo Flores, Héctor Ernesto Mairena (member of the opposition Unión Democrática Renovadora), Irvin Isidro Larios Sánchez, Issa Moisés Hassan Morales (former Sandinista guerrilla) and Hugo Ramón Rodríguez Flores.
This new group joins the fourteen Nicaraguans also nationalized by naturalization during the extraordinary Council of Ministers of last May 11, including sociologist Gertrudis Guerrero, wife of the exiled Nicaraguan writer Sergio Ramírez, who already had Spanish nationality. Also appearing in that first group was journalist Cristiana Chamorro, presidential pre-candidate who in the 2021 elections appeared as the most likely candidate to defeat Ortega; and the aforementioned Carlos Fernando Chamorro Barrios, founder of the local media Confidencial and son of former president Violeta Chamorro.
That same day, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, held a meeting in Washington with some of these opponents. Likewise, Sergio Ramírez thanked Albares, in a telephone conversation, for granting his wife’s nationality. The Minister of Foreign Affairs announced that this first group of Spanish nationals would be followed by others.
On February 9, the Ortega regime expelled 222 opponents (diplomats, former state officials, human rights defenders, Sandinista dissidents, opponents, journalists, academics, students, businessmen and traders) accused of treason, from the country to the USA and stripped them of their nationality. After learning of the Ortega regime’s decision to strip the opponents of their nationality, the Government offered to grant Spanish nationality to those declared “stateless” by the Nicaraguan regime, an offer which 81 of those affected had accepted by the end of March. On February 16, Daniel Ortega decreed the withdrawal of the nationality and the seizure of the assets of 94 other opponents for the same reasons, among them the aforementioned Sergio Ramirez, resident in Spain, and his wife, Gertrudis Guerrero, and the journalist Fernando Chamorro and his wife, Desirée Elizondo. The day after Ortega’s decision, the Government extended its offer of nationality to this second group of 94 Nicaraguans.
